KATHMANDU: President of the Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has lauded Indian Prime Minister for his endeavour, calling for the SAARC member states to put up a united front to battle coronavirus, a now pandemic.

Taking to Twitter, the Maldivian President said that Maldives welcomes this proposal and will extend full support to regional effort.

"Thank you PM @narendramodi for taking the initiative on this important endeavour. COVID-19 requires collective effort to defeat it. Maldives welcomes this proposal and would fully support such a regional effort."

Likewise, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa too has shown support to Modi's Twitter diplomacy.

"Thank you for the great initiative Shri @narendramodi- #LKA is ready to join the discussion & share our learnings & best practices and to learn from other #SAARC members. Let’s unite in solidarity during these trying times and keep our citizens safe."

Similarly, Bangladesh also joined Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives in welcoming this move. Indian journalist Sidhant Sibal, who works for WION, stated that Bangladesh accepts the proposal forwarded by the Indian Prime Minister.

Bhutan too joined its South Asian neighbours in showing solidarity and resolution to fight a looming threat. "This is what we call leadership. As members of this region, we must come together in such times. Smaller economies are hit harder, so we must coordinate. With your leadership, I have no doubt we will see immediate and impactful outcome. Looking forward to the video conference," Bhutanese PM Lotay Tshering tweeted.

Earlier today, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi called for the leaders of SAARC nations to put up a united front to fight Coronavirus, suggesting video-conferencing as a means to discuss issues, thus setting an example to the world.

A while ago, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is currently recovering from a renal transplant held early this month at TUTH, also backed his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi's call for SAARC solidarity to fight coronavirus epidemic.