International health experts have gathered for a virtual summit to discuss the ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19. The World Health Summit brings together leading international scientists, politicians and representatives from industry and civil society.

Ordinarily the event is held in Berlin, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 summit is being hosted digitally, with participants from over 100 countries joining through video conference calls. 

While digital technology had helped save the conference from being canceled, the head of the World Health Organization noted that technology had also been critical in the fight against Covid-19. 

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"Underpinning [the WHO's] new strategy is a vision to improve health for everyone, everywhere, by accelerating the development of accessible, affordable and sustainable digital health solutions," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

"It calls for the use of technology to prevent, detect and respond to epidemics and pandemics while ensuring the ethical use of health data," he added. 

Vaccine hopes

The development of an effective COVID-19 vaccine was also a key topic for speakers. In an interview with CGTN Europe, a senior director at the Global Vaccine Initiative stressed the importance of collaboration when it came to vaccine research. 

"All governments are affected at the moment, be it from a health perspective or from an economic perspective," said Aurélia Nguyen, the Head of Vaccines and Sustainability at GAVI.

"So we will be more effective in pulling together our efforts to answer this pandemic through a collaborative approach, which includes a collaborative approach to COVID-19 vaccine access. 

"It requires all of our efforts put together. We're seeing that with 184 economies. We should be able to give a strong response as soon as we have a vaccine available," she said. 

European resurgence

The Berlin Health Summit comes as much of Europe continues to battle a resurgence of COVID-19. Fresh restrictions are being introduced across a number of regions, as hospital admissions rise. 

In a keynote address to the summit, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said international cooperation would help defeat the virus. 

"The dramatic spikes in recent weeks across the world, and especially here in Europe, reflect a picture that is getting worse by the day. We are back to March and April levels and in many cases already far beyond it," she said. 

"But while the virus is back stronger than ever, our knowledge and our experience of what we need to do is also much better than before."