This photo taken on March 1, 2020 shows a man transferring foods on a
cart in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. (Photo by STR / AFP) /
China OUT
The United Nation’s
Central Emergency Fund has released $15 million to...
fund vulnerable countries with weak health care systems to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
fund vulnerable countries with weak health care systems to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The
announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded the
global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to ‘very high’ – its top level
of risk assessment.
In a statement
released last evening, the UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, says the
emergency grant will support countries with fragile health systems to
boost their detection and response efforts with a view of save the lives
of millions of vulnerable people.
The
funding will be used by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to undertake essential activities such as
monitoring the spread of the virus, investigating cases, and operating
national laboratories.
UNICEF is
leading on preventative actions in communities across the affected
countries with risk communication, providing hygiene and medical kits to
schools and health clinics and monitoring the impact of the outbreak to
support continuity of care, education and social services.
UNICEF
Executive Director Henrietta Fore explains that UNICEF will use its
share of the funds to support global efforts to inform children,
pregnant women and families about how to protect themselves.
“At this pivotal moment”, she says, “Every effort must be made to push back against the outbreak”.
WHO
head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the new line of funding will
help vulnerable countries to protect frontline workers and treat
patients appropriately.
He adds that the potential spread of the virus to countries with weaker health systems are one of the WHO’s primary concerns.
WHO
is asking for a Shs675 million to fund the fight against coronavirus.
The agency’s chief says that there is a window of opportunity to contain
the spread of the virus if countries take robust measures to detect
cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts.
Globally, there were 1,739 new confirmed cases during the 24-hour reporting period between Saturday and Sunday.
Following
a period of decline, the number of confirmed cases in Hubei Province,
the epicentre of the virus, has risen over the last two days. WHO
announced that it is monitoring the situation, and working to understand
its significance.
Five new
countries; Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Ireland, Monaco and Qatar have reported
cases of COVID-19, the WHO reported in its Sunday situation report on
the virus, bringing the total number of affected countries to 58.
But
Lowcock says that despite this, it is not too late to contain COVID-19:
"We do not yet see evidence that the virus is spreading freely. As long
as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing it."
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