ASEAN-China Health Experts, Foreign Ministry Officials Hold Videoconference on Enhancing Cooperation on COVID-19 Pandemic Response

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Junever M. Mahilum-West, as seen through a monitor screen, heads the Philippine Delegation to the Follow-Up Special Videoconference on 31 March 2020. Videoconferencing is one of the ways in which DFA-ASEAN abides by social distancing measures, while still continuing engagement with foreign counterparts. (Photo by Philippine Permanent Representative to ASEAN, H.E. Noel Servigon)

MANILA 02 April 2020 – Experts from the Health Ministries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China met via videoconference on 31 March 2020 to exchange views on sustaining and further enhancing regional collective responses to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Different approaches and cooperative efforts in managing COVID-19 were discussed among ASEAN Member States and China. The meeting was co-chaired by officials from the ASEAN Secretariat and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the videoconference, health experts also shared information on scaled-up and intensified prevention, readiness, detection, and response measures. They also shared best practices on testing, contact tracing, quarantine, isolation, and social-distancing measures.

The meeting also highlighted information on non-pharmaceutical measures such as travel restrictions, social distancing, and whole-of-government/whole-of-society approaches to mitigate and contain the spread of the virus.

Dr. Anjo Benedict R. Fabellon, Medical Officer IV of the Department of Health Bureau of International Health Cooperation and Focal Point for ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting and the Senior Officials’ Meeting on Health Development (AHMM/SOMHD), highlighted Philippine health responses to COVID-19.

“Further ahead, we look forward to strengthening preparedness for outbreaks caused by emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases by improving already existing mechanisms—be it through improving our response to pandemic hazards like zoonotic and food-borne diseases, the illicit trafficking of wildlife, and the steady decline of the region’s own rich biodiversity, or to leveraging the human resources pool for research and innovation,” Dr. Fabellon said in his intervention.

A report from AHMM/SOMHD Chair Indonesia highlighted capacity needs and gaps among ASEAN Member States on material resources for case management and treatment, capacity building and technical assistance, and sustained information and experience sharing. It also mentioned the importance of ASEAN BioDiaspora Virtual Center led by the Philippines.

China also shared its experience in dealing with the pandemic, particularly its 4-Early approach: Early Detection, Early Reporting, Early Isolation, and Early Treatment that led to a decrease in new cases and infections.

The videoconference is a follow up to the February 20 ASEAN-China Health Experts’ Meeting also held via videoconference and participated in by ASEAN and China Health Sector Focal Points. The meeting was held in parallel with the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SFMM) on COVID-19 in Vientiane, Laos.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Junever M. Mahilum-West headed the Philippine delegation to the videoconference. Assistant Secretary Mahilum-West and Director Frank Ivan Olea have also been appointed as the Department of Foreign Affair’s (DFA) Representative and Alternate Representative, respectively, of the Task Group Resource Management and Logistics of the National Task Force COVID-19. END