CIS Experts Share Experience in Countering COVID-19

On 21 April 2020, the Russian Research Anti-Plague Institute “Microbe” of Rospotrebnadzor provided a venue for the meeting of the Coordination Board on Sanitary Protection of the Territories of the CIS Member Nations from Import and Spread of Especially Dangerous Infectious Diseases, which was held via video-conferencing.

The meeting brought together members of the Coordination Board, Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives and diplomats from the CIS Member Nations, experts from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, WHO Regional Office for Europe and representatives of the CIS Executive Committee.

The participants shared practical experience and relevant information on activities to fight the new coronavirus infection. Since the last meeting of the Coordination Board, which was held one month ago, negative dynamics in spread of COVID-19 both in the world and CIS Member Nations has been observed. The number of the affected countries has grown from 150 to 182, total number of cases has exceeded 2,500,000, whereas total number of deaths reached 172,117.

The participants stressed that the CIS specialists stay in close contact with each other, sharing the experience of their countries in the fight against COVID-19. They also commended the unifying role of the WHO in the struggle against the pandemic and the importance of cooperation of the CIS and WHO experts on the issues of countering the spread of the virus at global and regional level.

The participants noted the relevance of the work on the CIS Cooperation Agreement on Prevention and Response to the Emergency Situations of Sanitary and Epidemiological Nature in the Field of Public Health, the Provisions on Information Exchange between the CIS Member Nations on Emergency Situations in the Field of Public Health and the Provisions on the Basic Organization of the CIS Member Nations on Monitoring, Timely Warning and Joint Response on the Situations of Sanitary and Epidemiological Nature in the Field of Public Health.

Members of the Coordination Board highlighted the positive results of the joint efforts on implementation of the International Medical and Sanitary Rules, aimed at strengthening methodological, technological, material and technical base, human resources, legal framework of the activities to prevent, monitor, early detect, verify and control emergency situations in the field of public health of international scale.

Nowadays, the CIS Member Nations use the opportunities of remote consultations on serious cases of coronavirus infection, share information on the development of testing equipment for COVID-19 diagnostic, including broad humanitarian cooperation, national recommendations and free remote educational programs for medical personnel from across the CIS.

The representatives of the CIS Member Nations expressed their gratitude to the Russian Federation for its practical and methodological support aimed at countering COVID-19.

The next meeting of the Coordination Board is scheduled for May 2020.

Photo: cis.minsk.by