Angola: The EU will support Angola with US$20m for the fight against Covid‐19 and diversification of the economy, Foreign Minister Teté António announced on September 8th in a statement to the press. António said that the amount was in addition to $10m already in the pipeline for the purchase of sanitary equipment and to mitigate other effects of the pandemic. (angop.ao 8/9)
A laboratory for Covid‐19 testing, fitted out by Chinese biotechnology company BGI Group, will open in Luanda in mid‐September, Jornal de Angola reports, citing an Angolan public health official. The lab will reportedly have the capacity to test 6,000 samples a day and will test for immunity from Covid‐19 as well as infection by the virus. (macauhub.com 7/9)
CAR – US: The US government has allocated the CAR approximately US$13.6m for its Covid‐19 response, US ambassador Lucy Tamlyn announced on August 27th. The support is “for risk communication, prevention and control of infections in health establishments and in emergency humanitarian aid”, the US ambassador said. The assistance also concerns the supply of drinking water and the protection of the health of vulnerable people during the pandemic. (rjdh.org 28/8)
Egypt: Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli has said that Cairo is offering 23 African states shipments of aid with an estimated value of US$2.2m to help them combat the Covid‐19 pandemic.
Addressing a virtual meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government, Madbouli noted that a first batch of medical aid estimated at $1.6m has already been sent to 10 African countries, with the second and third batches to be finalised soon.
He called for continuous cooperation among countries in Africa and around the world to confront the spread of Covid‐19 across the continent, the official Egyptian news agency MENA reported on August 20th.
In July, Egypt's Health Ministry said that it would become the African hub for manufacturing a vaccine for Covid‐19 being developed in China. (BBC Monitoring 20/8)
Malawi – UK: Malawi is among eight countries that will benefit from a new £119m (about Kwacha 120bn) aid package to combat the threat of coronavirus and famine. This is contained in a statement by the British high commission announcing the merger of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign Office to create the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Other beneficiaries of the aid package include Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, according to the statement.
“Without international attention, many more will die from hunger and disease, and the pandemic will continue to spread in developing countries and to the wider world,” the statement noted. (Nyasa Times 4/9)
Morocco – South Korea: Morocco's uphill battle to stem the number of Covid‐19 infections is to receive support from South Korea. A joint project will be launched which includes equipment and technology donations, as well as medical conferences to enable researchers to exchange knowledge, Morocco World News website reported on September 3rd.
The project, developed in partnership with NGO Global Care and Morocco's Ministry of Health, aims to provide the kingdom's hospitals and medical facilities with specialist equipment and protective gear for health workers. (BBC Monitoring 3/9)
São Tomé e Príncipe – China: Eight doctors have left the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan bound for São Tomé e Príncipe on the fifth in a series of Chinese medical missions to the country, the Sichuan News website reports.
The provincial government‐run website says the doctors include a general surgeon, a stomatologist, a cardiologist, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and an acupuncturist. The mission will help São Tomé to counter the Covid‐19 pandemic, the report quotes a provincial health official as saying. (macauhub.com 15/9)