THE United States and Japan will jointly host a virtual Covid-19 conference on July 19 to further galvanise international action, measure progress and strengthen global health security.
A statement from the Department of State’s Office of the Spokesperson quoted Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying with COVID-19’s far-reaching impacts and the emergence of new variants, there remains an urgent need for political and diplomatic engagement.
Blinken added that there must be coordination to accelerate progress to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The participating government officials and international organisation representatives will meet to maintain progress and drive action on the six lines of effort in the COVID-19 Pandemic Prioritised Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement (“GAP”), which we launched earlier this year: (1) Getting Shots in Arms; (2) Bolstering Supply Chain Resilience; (3) Addressing Information Gaps; (4) Supporting Health Care Workers; (5) Ensuring Acute Non-Vaccine Interventions (Test and Treat); and (6) Strengthening the Global Health Security Architecture,” Blinken said.
He added that because health security is national security, all governments and stakeholders must play a central role in bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to an end.
“No one country acting alone can stop the virus, and the United States will continue to coordinate closely with our global partners to emerge stronger from this pandemic and build a more resilient global health infrastructure. Next week’s Ministerial will constitute another important step on that path,” he said.
