The Asian Development Bank has approved a further $2 million grant to support the government’s efforts to combat Covid-19 in Pakistan.

The new grant supplements an initial $500,000 approved by ADB on March 20 which is already being deployed to support Pakistan’s procurement of emergency supplies through Unicef, a press release issued by the ADB said.

“ADB recognises the extraordinary burden of this pandemic on Pakistan and is committed to supporting Pakistan in the fight to control Covid-19”, said ADB Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang. "This grant will help strengthen COVID-19 detection, improve infection prevention and control, and boost Pakistan’s capacity to respond to the pandemic."