NEW DELHI, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Global solutions are needed to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, a scholar has said.
"A global joint prevention and control mechanism must be devised, where every bit of information related to the pandemic could be shared," B.R. Deepak, chairperson at the Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"Cooperation in developing related medicines and vaccine is crucial," he said. "Similar mechanisms could be initiated at regional level where policy coordination can take place."
"If there are no joint and concerted efforts, to win over the pandemic could take much longer time; there are chances of it rebounding, and if that keeps on happening the world economic recovery will continue to be compromised," he added.
The scholar said the industrial electricity consumption growth and the surge in services, railway and postal freight reflected that China's orderly resumption of work and production has led to a gradual economic recovery.
"This will result in gradual resumption of the global supply chains that were disrupted by COVID-19. As the global economy is expected to shrink by over 5 percent, the growth of the Chinese economy will prove to be a balancer," he said.
The International Monetary Fund in its latest projection in June revised down the 2020 global economy to a 4.9-percent contraction, projecting a 1.6-percent contraction for the Asian economy this year.
The Indian scholar stressed that in order to defeat the pandemic, international solidarity and unity is utmost important.
"China's support to over a hundred countries across the globe, especially the poor developing countries in terms of sending medical teams, equipment, building health facilities, as well as monetary support is crucial," Deepak said.
"Besides, sharing China's experience in standardising and sanitising the transportation facilities including aviation and public health and other places can be very valuable for countries with large populations or densely populated areas, and enable them to tide over the scare and build capacities," he said. Enditem
