KATHMANDU: The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Nepal Dr. Jos Vandelaer has suggested Nepal to cooperate with India and China to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vandelaer said that China has built a lot of expertise while responding to COVID-19.

“If the three countries can work together, they can all learn from each other, and certainly Nepal can benefit from the support of both neighbors,” he added.

The WHO official said Nepal needs more supplies such as personal protection equipment and ventilators if the scale of the pandemic goes higher, Xinhua reported.

“The WHO and other pioneer agencies are setting up a coordination mechanism”, he said,”Some of these things are available locally, but some should be brought in.

He also suggested the government to increase surveillance to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

One of the lessons learned from China “is to educate people and next is to increase the measures like surveillance as it’s very important to pick up the cases, test and treat them,” Vandelaer said.

Nepal has so far tested 687 samples in its National Public Health Laboratory since January, among which 684 cases were negative, including the students who were evacuated from China’s Wuhan last month.

Expressing confidence in Nepal’s present capacity to detect cases and to confront them in laboratory, he said that global and local solidarity is required to win the battle.

In an interview with Xinhua, he said, “Everybody is at risk, and everybody can do their part. We learned from China that it’s not just the health sector that needs to act, but the government and whole of society should act together.”

The official said that the WHO is in close coordination with the Nepali Health Ministry. They have mapped different scenarios for different level of preparedness.

“This pandemic actually needs global solidarity. Everybody is at the same boat, it is a matter of helping each other,” Vandelaer said.