Jaishankar speaks to Israeli counterpart, reiterate cooperation in COVID-19 fight

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi and reiterated cooperation between the two countries in combatting the coronavirus challenge.

"Pleasure to hear from FM @Gabi_Ashkenazi of Israel. The India-Israel partnership is currently focused on combating the #COVID challenge. Even as it does, the larger agenda of cooperation continues to move forward," Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, the Israeli Embassy in India said Tel Aviv has decided to send India this week a team of scientists working to develop a rapid testing kit for coronavirus.

The Israeli team will work in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. The testing of the first phase was already done in Israel and the last stage will now be carried out in India for the testing kit which can give results within a minute, according to a statement by the embassy.

It also said Israel's ministries of foreign affairs, defence and health will lead an unprecedented anti-COVID-19 cooperation operation between India and Israel.

The infection tally in India is around 1.3 million on Sunday with 48,661 fresh cases reported within the last 24 hours, according to government data. Meanwhile, 705 more deaths reported during this time took the total to 32,063.

( With inputs from ANI )