BRICS countries mull pandemic early warning system

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.

( With inputs from ANI )