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EU announces €232 million Covid-19 aid package
By ECCT staff writers
The European Commission has announced a new aid package worth €232 to support global efforts to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak. In particular, the package is aimed at boosting global preparedness, prevention and containment of the virus. Part of these funds will be allocated immediately to different sectors, while the rest will be released over the next months.
According to a press statement published on Europa, Janez Lenarčič, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management (and the European Emergency Response Coordinator), said the new aid package will support the World Health Organisation (WHO) and target funding to ensure countries with weaker health systems are not left behind, adding that the goal is to contain the outbreak at a global level.
Under the plan, new EU funding will help detect and diagnose the disease, care for infected people and prevent further transmission at this critical time.
Out of the €232 million aid package, €114 million will be allocated to support the WHO, in particular the global preparedness and response plan, intended to boost public health emergency preparedness and response work in countries with weak health systems and limited resilience. In addition, €15 million will be allocated in Africa, including to the Institute Pasteur Dakar, Senegal to support measures such as rapid diagnosis and epidemiological surveillance while €100 million will go to urgently-needed research related to diagnostics, therapeutics and prevention, including €90 million through the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a partnership between the EU and the pharmaceutical industry. A further €3 million will be allocated to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for repatriation flights of EU citizens from Wuhan, China.
