GENEVA : In a strong stance on the patents waiver issue at the World Trade Organisation, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Monday stressed on the importance of including diagnostics and therapeutics under the deal besides Covid-19 vaccines, in line with the joint proposal with South Africa.
Addressing the thematic session on ‘Response to the Covid-19 pandemic’ on the second day of talks in Geneva, Goyal also pressed for a consensus-based outcome on the issue.
He emphasized on the need to ramp up manufacture of therapeutics and diagnostics to achieve a comprehensive test and treat strategy, as he argued that it was too late in the day to only look at a deal on vaccines waiver.