Long made the remark while delivering a speech at the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA73), which took place in the form of a teleconference on May 18-19 due to the impact of the pandemic.
The official said that with high political determination and the motto “fighting the pandemic like fighting the enemy”, Vietnam has resolutely implemented many measures in a synchronous and flexible manner, thus effectively curbing the spread of the disease with no fatal cases.
Vietnam has actively shared information and experience on COVID-19 prevention and control, and always ensured information transparency with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other countries around the world via its focal point on International Health Regulations (IHR), he stated.
Long noted that Vietnam highly appreciates the technical assistance offered by the WHO in combating the pandemic through the issuance of recommendations and technical documents related to treatment, monitoring, infection control and testing, and the organisation of teleconferences to share information and experience on disease prevention and control.
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Screenshot of the location at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Despite the huge losses caused by COVID-19, this was an opportunity for countries to reconsider their capabilities following the requirements of IHR (2005) including policies, surveillance, risk assessment, laboratory, infection prevention and control, clinical management, risk communication and resources, in order to propose recommendations to strengthen those capabilities in the near future, he said.
The agenda of WHA73 mainly focused on the topic of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, member countries voted to select the official members that will replace the previous ones on the WHO Executive Board. In the Western Pacific region where Vietnam is a member state of the WHO, the Republic of Korea has been elected to be an official member of the WHO Executive Board, replacing Japan whose tenure expires in 2020.
Many world leaders attended and delivered speeches at the WHA73, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and RoK President Moon Jae-in. It is time for the world to join hands to push back the pandemic by promoting technological advances such as vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, the leaders said, pledging to sponsor COVID-19 prevention and control funds via the WHO, the Global Vaccination Alliance (GAVI) and other multilateral organisations, so as to ensure everyone has access to testing, treatment and vaccine supplies once a vaccine for COVID-19 has been successfully developed.
