Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the raging coronavirus pandemic is testing the strength of the world and that India was contributing to the fight against the disease by providing medical assistance to 150 nations. The prime minister made the remark during his keynote address at a session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
“In our fight against the coronavirus pandemic, we have also helped create a SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] COVID Emergency Fund in our region,” Modi said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has severely tested the resilience of all nations.”
Modi added that in India, the fight against the coronavirus crisis was a combination of the efforts of the government and the civil society. “We have tried to make the fight against the pandemic a people’s movement,” he said.
The prime minister added that India’s grassroots healthcare system is helping it achieve one of the best coronavirus recovery rates in the world.
Modi also spoke of India’s “atma-nirbhar” or self-reliant approach to tide over the economic damage caused by the coronavirus crisis. “We’ve announced a package of more than $300 billion,” the prime minister said. “It will bring the economy back on track, build modern infrastructure and put in place a technology-driven system. We’ve put forward a vision of self-reliant and resilient India integrated with the global economy.”
The prime minister also said that multilateralism needs to represent the reality of the contemporary world. “Only reform-multilateralism with a reformed-UN as its centre can meet the aspirations of humanity,” he said. “India firmly believes that the path to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity is through multilateralism. As children of planet Earth, we must join hands to address our common challenges and achieve our common goals.”
The prime minister’s UN address came on the day India crossed a grim milestone of 10 lakh coronavirus cases. The country is now only behind the United States and Brazil in coronavirus numbers. India reported a record 34,956 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its total to 10,03,832. More than 25,000 people in India have died while over 6.3 lakh people have recovered.
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