The United States Department of Defense (US) has donated personal protective equipment valued at $75,000 to a Mozambican health research centre, the entity announced in a statement today.
“We hope that this equipment will help protect the health teams that are at the forefront of the response to covid-19 as they work to prevent the spread of this virus,” said US Department of Defense Lieutenant Colonel Fergal O’Reilly, cited in the statement.
The equipment, which includes masks, alcohol and thermometers, is aimed at professionals at the Polana Caniço (Cispoc) Health Research and Training Centre, in Maputo city.
According to the lieutenant colonel, the contribution is part of a US$900,000 package (734,000 euros) that is to be donated, in protective equipment, to public and military health units, including in the provinces of Nampula, Sofala, Cabo Delgado and Zambézia.
“Our partnership to support the military health services has a long and successful history,” the lieutenant stressed, noting that the donation is a “clear example of the department’s continued contribution” to support Mozambique.
“As in any military victory, we can only win the battle against covid-19 through continued teamwork and full dedication to our common goal,” he concluded.
Since the announcement of the first case, Mozambique has a cumulative of 17,256 registered cases, of which 15,257 (88%) are reported as recovered, with a further 145 dead.
The covid-19 pandemic has caused at least 1,649,927 deaths as a result of more than 74.1 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a balance sheet made by the French agency AFP.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
