Israel, India agree to continue cooperation in fight against COVID-19

On October 4, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he spoke with “his friend” Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the two nations have agreed to promote India-Israel cooperation in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. Further, he added that the countries will emphasize on the technological cooperation and testing in an online statement. The Israeli PM held a telephonic conversation with his Indian counterpart, PM Modi and discussed bilateral cooperation to combat the coronavirus pandemic. 

Israel and India have been closely involved in the testing process of the COVID-19 as easier in August, a team of scientists working to develop a rapid testing kit for coronavirus arrived in India to work with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, the Israeli Embassy in India said in a statement. Israel's ministries of foreign affairs, defense and health has been leading unprecedented anti-COVID-19 cooperation with India. In a nine-day swabbing marathon, the Israeli delegation collected over 20,000 coronavirus samples to determine the effectiveness of several Israeli technologies developed for the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19. Israeli delegation was led by Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) in Israeli Ministry of Defense, as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Health.

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Cutting-edge equipment for India

According to the official press release, the team comprised of approximately 20 experts in various industries associated with the development of the diagnostic solutions. The delegation was led by Israel's Ambassador to India, Dr. Ron Malka. An Israeli aircraft also carried cutting-edge equipment brought by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the private sector in Israel. India and Israel co-operation led to collection of tens of thousands of COVID-19 samples and later analyse them using AI-based computer systems. "Israel and India share collaborations in every area of science. The friendship and trust our countries have developed over the years have improved the ongoing studies' speed and quality. I am sure that some of these will be successful and result in great value to our countries and humanity," K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor from the Prime Minister of India's office (PMO) said. 

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(with inputs from ANI)