Emergency aid of £ 105 million will help vulnerable countries tackle the Omicron variant of Coronavirus with a special focus on South Africa
The Foreign Secretary of United Kingdom (U.K.) – Liz Truss has announced an emergency aid of £ 105 million to help vulnerable countries tackle the Omicron variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19), with a special focus on South Africa.
The financial aid will help scale-up testing in parts of Africa where testing rates are lowest. The funds will also be used to improve access to oxygen supplies for ventilators. The U.K. will fund testing and oxygen supplies through the COVID-19 response mechanism C19RM, established by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The U.K. also wants to provide communities with hygiene advice, products and access to handwashing facilities, deep cleaning in schools, health centres and other public places. This will build on the successful global hygiene campaign between U.K. aid and Unilever which has reached over 1.2 billion people since its launch in 2020.
The aid will also fund the U.K.’s ground-breaking science and research into the spread of variants like Omicron to enable innovative evidence-based policy responses in low and middle-income countries. U.K. also wants to have its own expert emergency teams for deployment overseas to crisis hotspots, including with new medical equipment.
Speaking on the occasion, Liz said, “The UK is providing vital assistance to help tackle the spread of new variants around the world. This is key to securing our freedom and ending this pandemic once and for all.”
She further said, “I am proud that we have also delivered over 30 million vaccines to benefit our friends around the world this year. The UK is helping other countries most in need. No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
Taking it to twitter, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – Sajid Javid tweeted,
We have delivered over 30 million vaccines abroad but today we go further.
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) December 30, 2021
As a global leader the U.K. is helping other countries in need and we stand side by side with our international partners. No one is safe until everyone is safe.https://t.co/wXx1GoLeH6
U.K. has so far delivered 30 million doses, as a part of its pledge to donate 100 million doses to poor countries, providing help to more than 30 countries. Of these, 24.6 million have been received by COVAX, a global initiative of World Health Organisation (WHO) aimed at equitable access to COVID-
19 vaccines, for delivery to countries. The 5.5 million have been shared directly with poor countries.
The countries who benefited from U.K.’s vaccine are Angola, Antiqua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Belize, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Malaysia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Senegal, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.
In 2022, U.K. will send 20 million doses of AstraZeneca – Oxford University vaccine and 20 million doses of Janssen to poor countries. U.K. will host a replenishment conference in March 2022 to support the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to raise funds for vaccine research and development. CEPI aim to cut the time it takes to develop a vaccine to 100 days which could avert future pandemics.
