Belgium, Netherland, and Sweden donate five million dollars to the Iraqi government to combat coronavirus in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has issued a statement in which it declares a five million dollars donation by three European countries, Belgium, Netherland, and Sweden, to support the Iraqi government in the coronavirus crisis.
The five million dollars were previously allocated for reconstruction and stabilization projects in the liberated areas, which are implemented by the UNDP, but now will be spent to combat the virus in the country.
The money will be allocated to boost the laboratory capabilities where the coronavirus tests are conducted, provide medical equipment for the coronavirus patients and the health teams, increase more rooms for the patients, and “develop crisis recovery strategies,” according to the statement.
Local authorities, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Ministry of Health in cooperation will take the necessary measure in the provinces where the most help is needed, Anbar, Diyala, Duhok, Bara, Karbala, Najaf, Nineveh, Salahuddin.
Zena Ali Ahmad, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Iraq, in the statement, said, “containing the spread of the virus is the priority of the Iraqi government, especially because the number of confirmed cases is increasing, which puts a great pressure on the health system.”
She also thanks to the three countries for their support and mentioned that due to the national lockdown, they had no option except for temporality suspending their stabilization projects. Instead, they will contribute to the efforts to confront the unprecedented health crisis,
In Iraq, 965 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, among which 294 patients have recovered, and 61 have died, according to the statistics published by the ministry of health.
Earlier, the United States provided 670 thousand dollars to the Iraqi government through the WHO to confront the virus. The U.S. also provided numerous testing kits to the federal and regional governments in Iraq.
The fund was allocated from, “Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),”
Globally, one million and 286 thousand have been recorded, 272 infected people recovered, and 70 thousand died. The virus has spread in 208 countries and regions.
