The World Health Organization (WHO) on April 2, hosted the digitized Health Ministers Meeting for member states of its Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO).
The conference call was chaired by SEARO's Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and was joined by the 11 SEARO nations - Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste.
Representing Maldives in the discussions were Minister of Health Abdulla Ameen, alongside WHO Representative to Maldives Dr Arvind Mathur, during which the Minister conveyed his appreciation to the Regional Director for initiating the virtual conference.
On behalf of the country, Minster Ameen expressed gratitude for the international assistance that Maldives had received in response to flattening the curve and curb the spread of the virus.
During the meeting, Dr Poonam thanked the member countries over the opportunity to share and discuss key findings of the organization and better prepare the countries to handle national operations to contain the pandemic.
Moreover, the Regional Director assured that testing kits and other medical equipment will be donated to the countries in the near future.
Maldives presently records a total of 19 confirmed and six active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 13 recoveries. Four Maldivians remain positive in the country, while two others—one in the UK and another in Malaysia—have tested positive for the virus. Thus far, no local to local transmissions have been recorded.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected over 1.5 million people and claimed over 89,870 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 340,100 people have recovered.
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