BRICS countries mull pandemic early warning system

Beijing: The 12th meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) health ministers has agreed that BRICS countries will launch an early warning system for large-scale pandemics.

Hosted by China virtually, the meeting was joined by more than 70 attendees including health ministers from BRICS countries and the deputy director-general of the World Health Organization. During the meeting, representatives had in-depth discussions on a range of topics such as COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, building new health systems and digital health, as per Xinhua News Agency.

Ma Xiaowei, head of China's National Health Commission, introduced China's counter-epidemic policies including the dynamic zero-COVID approach and talked about China's efforts to maintain a balance between epidemic prevention and economic development.
A joint declaration was adopted at the meeting.

China is scheduled to host the BRICS summit in Xiamen in June this year.
BRICS is a multilateral forum consisting of five major emerging economies of the world, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. (ANI)