US sets aside $37 million to help ”high priority” countries, including Philippines vs COVID-19

March 5, 2020

The United States has earmarked $37 million worth of financial assistance to so-called “high priority” countries, including the Philippines, to fund programs combatting coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

The US Agency for International Development said funds come from USAID’s Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious Diseases.

The  funds allocated for WHO will be used to help the governments of currently affected or at-risk developing countries prepare their laboratories for large-scale testing for COVID-19, implement a public-health emergency plan for points of entry, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance for influenza-like illnesses, train and equip rapid-response teams, investigate cases and trace the contacts of infected persons, and adapt training materials for health workers on COVID-19.

“These are the first US government funds committed from the pledge of up to $100 million announced by the US Department of State on February 7. Because an infectious-disease threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere, we call on other donors to contribute to the effort to combat COVID-19 as well,” the US agency said.

Other ''high priority'' countries identified by USAID were Afghanistan, Angola, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Africa, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kyrgyztan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.

As of March 4, there have been three cases of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, and they are all Chinese citizens.

Of the three confirmed COVID-19 cases, one patient, a 44-year old male, died. There are 32 patients awaiting results of tests which will determine if they are positive for COVID-19. DMS