NATO Defence Ministers met by secure video conference on Thursday, to prepare for a possible second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Alliance say that they decided on a plan to provide support to Allies and partners, agreed to establish a stockpile of medical equipment and supplies, as well as a new fund to enable Allies to quickly acquire medical supplies and services.
Defence Ministers from Finland, Sweden and Australia also joined the discussions, as well as EU High Representative/Vice President Borrell.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said:
“I welcome that many Allies have offered to donate medical equipment to the stockpile, and to contribute to the financing. This is a sign of Allied unity and solidarity – just as Allies have supported one another, and our partners, in the first wave of COVID-19, we stand ready to support each other should a second wave of the pandemic strike, to reduce suffering, and to save lives.”
NATO Defence Ministers also decided to update NATO’s guidelines for national resilience to take greater account of cyber threats, the security of supply chains, and consequences of foreign ownership and control.
Read the transcript of the Secretary General’s press conference here.
A second wave or spike is a scary thought. It was the second spike of Spanish Flu that killed millions and set the world into economic depression. Hopefully it won’t come to that. I read that GlaxoSmithKline are mass producing a trial vaccine. It’s not finished human trials yet but they’re manufacturing 100 million for the UK, 400 million for EU and 400 million for the US (worth £1.2billion) A company like that isn’t going to produce almost a billion vaccines if they weren’t extremely confident it will work. If it does they’re looking to start vaccinating 30 million people… Read more »
Found the q and a in the transcript very insightful. It’s amazing what the bbC and others choose not to report. I did not realise turkey was blocking NATO defence plans for eastern Europe notr that there was an incident between French and Turkish ships regarding Turkish illegal supply of arms to Libya. But obviously, what’s much more important news is that Dominic raab thinks taking the knee is like something out of game if thrones… Jesus wept
Yes regarding the Turkey /France incident when one Warship ‘Paints’ another Navy’s Warship with Targeting Radar and both are NATO members thats pretty serious.
Agreed. Will be very interested to see how the turkey nato geopolitics plays out. definitely one to keep an eye on.
I’m glad someone is engaging in sensible planning & joined up thinking rather than muddling through from one disaster to another, getting it wrong at nearly every opportunity.
Just because HMG say they’re following scientific advice & it’s safe now to ease restrictions doesn’t mean that’s the reality. It will be a miracle if we don’t get a nasty 2nd spike.