WHO praises India's commitment to combat coronavirus pandemic

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday praised the Indian government's commitment to combat the novel coronavirus -- a pandemic which has infected more than 168,000 people and killed over 6600 globally.

Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Henk Bekedam, the WHO Representative to India, commended the apex medical research institute for managing to isolate the strains of Sars-Cov-2.

"I think the commitment of the Indian government from the top level -- the Prime Minister's office himself -- has been enormous, very impressive. This is one of the reasons why India is doing very well. I am very impressed that everyone has been mobilised," Bekedam said.

"We have very good research capacity in India and especially at the ICMR and the Department of Health Research. They have been able to isolate the virus, (and) now India will continue to be part of the research community," he added.

Last week, the ICMR had announced they have been successful in isolating the new strain of coronavirus -- the first step towards expediting the development of drugs and vaccines for COVID-19.

India has reported 126 cases of the novel coronavirus, while 3 people have died in the country from the infection.

The virus, which first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 167,500 people and killed 6600 others globally.