Partners pledge $234m towards Zimbabwe’s coronavirus fight

Zimbabwe’s development partners have so far pledged 234 million U.S. dollars towards the country’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, senior officials said on Monday.

The support, in both cash and kind, has been targeted at eight pillars of the country’s response plan, including infection prevention and control, case management and procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), Finance Minister Mtuli Ncube said in a joint statement with Acting Health Minister Aaron Murwira.

“The commitment by development partners now stands at 234 million US dollars. Disbursements by the partners as of 28 January 2021 stand at 119 million US dollars,” the ministers said in the statement.

The officials added that the country was projected to receive 134 million dollars towards the fight against the pandemic in 2021.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has received 49 million dollars from the Global Fund to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programs.

“Of the 45 million dollars, 17.5 million dollars worth of kits have been delivered, 12.5 million dollars deliveries are underway. Meanwhile, about 15 million dollars worth of goods have already been ordered for which delivery is expected in the second quarter of 2021,” the ministers said.

Zimbabwe is grappling with a second wave of the pandemic, which has seen an exponential rise in new infections and deaths over the last month.

As of Monday, the country had recorded 33,388 Covid-19 cases, 26,044 recoveries and 1,217 related deaths.

Edited by Olajumoke Adeleke