Li Bin, vice-minister of China's National Health Commission, attends the 10th BRICS Health Ministers Meeting via video link on Nov 11. [Photo/nhc.gov.cn] 

Li Bin, vice-minister of China's National Health Commission, attended the 10th BRICS Health Ministers Meeting via video link on Nov 11. The meeting was chaired by Mikhail Murashko, health minister of Russia, which holds the BRICS rotating presidency.

Around 50 people attended the meeting, including the health ministers of Brazil, India and South Africa as well as the representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Li said that China has always given top priority to people's lives. With arduous efforts, China has made major strategic achievements in the national fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and has accelerated the pace of social and economic recovery. 

China will continue to take measures to strengthen pandemic prevention and control in autumn and winter, actively share with other BRICS countries the protocols of COVID-19 prevention and control as well as diagnosis and treatment, and provide technical support to other developing countries in need in a bid to jointly build a global health community for all.

Health ministers of participating countries introduced their measures in response to COVID-19, and reached the consensus that efforts should be made to enhance the construction of health systems and cooperation in monitoring, detection and early warning. They agreed that experience in combating the virus should be shared to promote the research and development, production and accessibility of drugs, vaccines and diagnostic reagents.

All the parties involved actively supported multilateralism and the WHO's leadership in global health security, and called for solidarity in response to the pandemic.

Representatives from China's Foreign Ministry, National Medical Products Administration and the NHC's relevant departments joined the meeting.