indica News Bureau-
The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar discussed over the weekend the situation arising out of the pandemic of COVID-19, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, a US state department statement said.
“Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar spoke March 14 to discuss COVID-19 developments, including ways in which India and the UScan cooperate to address this global challenge,” the statement said late Sunday.
The conversation took place less than a month after US President Donald Trump’s India visit, which had focused on partnership in the health sector among other areas, Economic Times reported.
“In support of global efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks such as novel Covid-19, Prime Minister Modi and President Trump committed to continuing their successful efforts in the areas of prevention, early detection, and rapid outbreak response,” said a joint Indo-US statement issued during President Trump’s visit.
“Productive conversation with Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S Jaishankar on ways the US and India can collaborate to fight the global #coronavirus outbreak,” news agency ANI quoted Pompeo as saying.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 3,000 in the US and the death toll increased to at least 61 people while in India the number of confirmed cases increased to 114, including foreign nationals.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired a video conference of leaders of South Asian countries on Sunday, also proposed convening a G-20 meet to discuss the impact of COVID-19.