New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ABD) on Tuesday announced an additional grant of $3 million to help India fight the coronavirus pandemic. Previously, it had granted $1.5 billion loan to the country for the same.
The bank said that it has granted the loan to support immediate priorities such as to enhance disease surveillance and help in contact tracing and early detection and moreover, for the social protection of the poor and economically vulnerable sections.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
Affirming that the bank is fully committed to supporting the Indian government in its response to this unprecedented challenge, Health specialist at ABD Sonalini Khetrapal said, "The new grant complements ADB’s ongoing support to the Government of India in strengthening its COVID-19 response.”
The grant, which is financed by the Japan government, will be used to procure thermal scanners and essential commodities to strengthen the Government of India’s COVID-19 response.
On 28 April, ADB approved a $1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program to support India in its pandemic response efforts, including disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection measures for the poor and economically vulnerable, particularly women and disadvantaged groups.
The bank had said that ADB’s CARES program will contribute directly to the improvement of access to health facilities and care, as well as social protection for more than 800 million people.
The CARES program is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s $20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries’ pandemic response, which was announced on 13 April.
Also read: Developing Asia to "barely grow" in 2020; India's GDP to contract by 4% this fiscal: ADB
