By: Aswathy Nair
The UK on Saturday announced that it would provide £2.67 million of funds to Pakistan for vital health support to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and protect the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country.
According to a statement by the British High Commission in Islamabad, the funding is first in a series of measures to give wide-ranging support to help the poorest and the most vulnerable people in Pakistan during the Coronavirus outbreak.
It said that the £2.67 million support will ensure funds for vital health support to Pakistan, build stronger systems to detect and test for COVID-19 and support communities to have the right information to protect themselves and others.
The statement read that the funds will help people in 27 districts of Pakistan.
It comes alongside the prime minister Imran Khan’s appeal to overseas diaspora to help fund-raise for the COVID-19 response, and the UK’s support for Pakistan’s debt relief and loan postponements from the G20 group of countries, according to the statement.
The British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, said that across the world millions of people were being affected by COVID-19 and expressed confident in Pakistan’s resilience and capability to defeat the pandemic.
“UK health support of £2.67 million will help the Government of Pakistan detect COVID-19, protect communities and help those most affected. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in Pakistan at this difficult time,” he said.
According to the statement, the wider package of support which the UK will roll-out over the coming weeks will repurpose Department for International Development’s programme of assistance to ensure it helps those at risk and the most vulnerable, during the Coronavirus response.
The UK also announced to provide £1 million for the rapid response of controlling locusts in affected areas in Pakistan, which were having a devastating impact on crops and livelihoods.
The funding came as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 7,638 in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services reported that 143 people have died so far due to the coronavirus.
