US to provide $1m to Pakistan to combat COVID-19

US diplomat Alice Wells says Pakistan, US are longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges

The United States on Friday announced that it will provide Pakistan $1 million under the USAID programme to help improve monitoring and rapid response against the novel coronavirus.

Senior US diplomat Alice Wells made the announcement on the microblogging website Twitter.

"The US-Pakistan government partnership is helping fight Covid-19. The US government is responding to Covid-19 in Pakistan with initial $1 million funding to bolster monitoring and rapid response."

She maintained that Pakistan and the United States are longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges.

The US diplomat further stated that there are over a hundred Pakistani graduates in the lab training of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, investigating coronavirus cases in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

 

The U.S.-Pakistan government partnership is helping fight #COVID19. The U.S. government is responding to #COVID-19 in #Pakistan with initial $1 million in @USAID_Pakistan funding to bolster monitoring & rapid response.

— State_SCA (@State_SCA) March 19, 2020

 

And the U.S. and #Pakistan are longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges. There are 100+ recent Pakistani graduates of @CDCgov's epidemiology lab training on the ground investigating #COVID19 cases in #GilgitBaltistan & #Punjab right now. AGW #Partners4Prosperity

— State_SCA (@State_SCA) March 19, 2020

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan has crossed 450 after Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa announced an increase in their provincial tallies.

Much of the country is under a lock-down as part of sweeping measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus.