Russia, Venezuela strengthen cooperation in COVID-19 treatment

In order to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in COVID-19 treatment, the health ministers from the Russian Federation and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela held a video conference on Friday, April 24. Venezuela’s Health Minister Carlos Alvarado and Vice-minister for Europe Yván Gil participated in this video conference held in the headquarters of Venezuela’s Health Ministry in Caracas, where they spoke with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko. During the meeting, Alvarado stressed that Venezuela has adopted a preventive approach to fight COVID-19 as the capacity of the country’s health system has been undermined by unilateral coercive measures imposed by the U.S. government. “Venezuela has more than 30 million inhabitants, and 311 coronavirus cases have been confirmed until yesterday, with 10 deaths, which represents a 3.2% case fatality rate , the lowest in the continent,” explained Alvarado, who said this is the result of the preventative measures implemented in the country under the guidance of the Presidential Commission headed by President Nicolás Maduro. “Today I held a productive virtual meeting with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko where we exchanged details of the protocols applied to contain COVID-19 in both countries, and the bilateral cooperation in health and assistance,” informed Alvarado. Social, collective quarantine, the mandatory use of facemasks and the restriction of activities are the main preventive measures implemented by the Venezuelan Government. In addition to these preventive measures and social distancing, Alvarado pointed out that Venezuela is also implementing a treatment protocol that is constantly updated. “We have incorporated chloroquine – an antimalarial medicine -, interferon, hydrocortisone, antivirals and antithrombotic medicines.” Both ministers highlighted the importance of knowing the Russian experience and strategy in treating COVID-19 since Russia has the lowest case fatality rate worldwide, not to mention research on the development of a vaccine under the approval of the World Health Organization (WHO). During the video conference, Venezuela and Russia agreed to establish a constant exchange of knowledge between Venezuelan specialists and Russian staff researching on the treatment of the virus.