NEWS

INEB Issues Public Statement for a Compassionate Global Response to the Coronavirus Crisis

By Craig Lewis | | Buddhistdoor Global

The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) on Monday published a public statement addressing the global coronavirus crisis, urging all people, nations, and governments, regardless of religious or cultural background or political affiliation, to recognize the interconnected and interdependent nature of our shared humanity as the basis for a united global response to the crisis that has endangered untold millions of people in vulnerable communities around the world. The statement emphasized the urgent need to express and manifest compassion through increased social solidarity to address the greatest global health crisis in living memory. “Although our daily lives are filled with uncertainty, we can show compassion, friendship, generosity, and kindness by reaching out to others and by reaching across the many social, cultural, ethnic, and religious divides that can no longer be allowed to separate us from our shared humanity,” the statement said. (INEB)

At the time of writing on 20 April, global confirmed SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections were reported to have exceeded 2.4 million, with 165,257 deaths so far recorded and 625,001 recovered.* The World Health Organization in March estimated the mortality rate from the virus at 3.4 per cent, based on incomplete and preliminary data, with the elderly and people with underlying health conditions considered most at risk. In its urgent statement, INEB called for a show of global social solidarity founded in peace and social harmony to confront the common threat posed by COVID-19 to save lives, minimize social disruption, and extinguish acts of discrimination by ensuring equal access to essential resources and healthcare: