THE COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world, triggering an existential crisis for human beings. It has become the biggest disaster after World War II. The novel coronavirus has become so deadly that thousands of people have succumbed to it, with their nations struggling to invent the anti-virus vaccine. The invisible enemy has forced the majority of the global population to live under lockdown. The social-and physical distancing has been practised to avoid the virus’s transmission. As the virus has the propensity to spread fast through human to human contact, governments across the world have strictly banned the mobility of people. As a result, the global connectivity has come to a halt. International trade and travel linkages have been disrupted. Millions of people have lost jobs as industries and business are shut down. Moreover, nations – rich or poor – have been exposed to their vulnerabilities.
The virus has reached far and wide after it broke out in Wuhan of China owing to globalised inter-connectedness. This means the global cooperation and understanding among the nations is the key to fighting the virus. The efforts of a single nation are not going to suffice to defeat the contagion. The world’s biggest organisation– the United Nations-- and its specialised agency – the World Health Organisation (WHO) - must assume their lead role against the pandemic. Likewise, regional organisations have equal role in enhancing the medical cooperation among the virus-hit nations. Sometime back, the SAARC leaders had conducted a video conference where they promised mutual support to fight the virus. This was encouraging initiative in the battle against the common enemy.
The other day, the countries affiliated to Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held a virtual Summit under the theme of “United against COVID-19” in order to express their solidarity to expand the areas of cooperation against the pandemic. The NAM leaders highlighted the need for unity, multilateralism and South-South Cooperation. They called for sharing experience, transfer of technology, medical logistics and equipment, advocacy for a recovery package from the international community. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli underlined the need for utilising the NAM’s numerical and moral strength to unite the world and a robust global response to such a crisis of large proportion. “Nothing is more important than the protection of human life and saving humanity, and this should be the supreme duty of governments.” While adopting the 18-point declaration, the summit established the NAM Taskforce to work out a database and a NAM Contact Group for collective fight against the pandemic.
PM Oli shared Nepal’s experiences with other participants regarding the fight against the virus. It has deployed all political, economic, human and technological resources to contain the virus. In South Asia, it has performed better to flatten the curve. This is a reason why not a single death has occurred in Nepal to date. Altogether 82 people have contracted the virus as of Tuesday. The country did not delay in enforcing the lockdown considered the most effective tool to prevent and control the virus’s surge. Besides, the three-tier governments worked in close coordination to implement the measures such as testing, contract-tracing, quarantining and social distancing. The frontline health workers have been given incentives, enabling them to work with confidence in the time of this medical emergency.