ISLAMABAD: The United States announced on Friday a funding of $8.4 million for Pakistan to combat the spread of new coronavirus in the country.

The contribution was announced on US mission’s social media platforms by Ambassador Paul Jones.

An amount of $3m will be utilised to provide three new mobile labs to enable Pakistanis living in virus hotspots to be tested, treated and monitored to stop the spread. High-tech emergency operations centres will be established in Islamabad, Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan under the initiative.

Funding of $2m will be used to train community health workers to assist people in their homes and lessen the burden on hospitals. Life-saving activities among Afghan refugees and in host communities in the country will be carried out at a cost of $2.4m, which will be administered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Details about the remaining $1m were not spelt out. With the new contributions, the US is collaborating with Pakistan to help stop the spread of Covid-19 nationwide and to care for the affected people. All of these contributions were identified as top priority needs by the Pakistani authorities, and they were fully paid for by the American people, a press release of the US embassy said.

The US ambassador described the contributions as the latest chapter in a long, vibrant US-Pakistan health partnership. It built on US contributions over the past 20 years of more than $1.1bn in the health sector, and more than $18.4bn overall to the US-Pakistan development partnership, Ambassador Jones said. “Together, we can stop the spread of this deadly disease to protect our loved ones and regain our prosperity and freedom,” emphasised the ambassador.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2020