Washington (Web Desk): The United States on Friday announced that it will provide $1 million to Pakistan under the USAID programme for helping improve monitoring and rapid response against the novel coronavirus.
“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,” Senior US diplomat Alice Wells said in a tweet.
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
She maintained that Pakistan and the United States are longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges.
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 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 number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan on Friday rose to 454.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has confirmed 60 fresh cases of the contagious disease in the province, pushing the total tally to 76. Later, the provincial health ministry reported the positive patients of COVID-19 81.
“As of Thursday 14 people have been tested positive of the virus in Lahore, 4 in Gujrat and 60 Zaireen (DG Khan 55, Multan 5),” said Punjab government spokesperson Musarrat Cheema in a tweet.
In Sindh, another 28 patients tested positive and at least 40 new 'social contact' cases were identified. With the additional cases, the provincial tally soared to 245.