Governor of Russia’s Murmansk Region Andrei Chibis has called for the creation of an international analytical group to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was initiated during an online session of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) Council in Murmansk on Wednesday, which focused on the efforts by the group's members to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis.
“I have put forward an initiative to create an analytical group, where we will combine all the experience of neighbouring countries in the fight against COVID-19”, Chibis was cited by the press service of the regional government as saying after the gathering.
The governor referred to a “spate of solutions, initiatives, and activities that are currently being implemented in the Murmansk Region and elsewhere in Russia”.
The solutions are related to the “introduction of special measures aimed not only at preserving business, but further developing it”, according to Chibis, who signaled his counterparts’ interests in dealing with the coronavirus-related initiative.
He specifically underscored the necessity of taking joint anti-coronavirus steps by BEAR Council members, such as Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
“We are returning to our usual way of life, and realising the fact that the virus will be with us for a long time, we must act more actively. The exchange of practices and ideas will help us to be stronger”, Chibis underscored.
The remarks come as governments around the word, including Russia, are easing COVID-19 restrictions introduced earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organisation’s latest situation report has put the number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 7,145,539, with 408,025 fatalities.
