COVID-19 Pandemic: $1bn offered by World Bank to India

As more than 1500 COVID-19 cases have been reported in India so far, the World Bank has come forward to offer $1 billion to India. This amount is meant for the proposed Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness project of Indian government. As per the project document, its idea is to mitigate the Covid-19 threat, besides strengthening the systems for public health preparedness in India. There is a need for long-term effective strategy to deal with the next wave of the disease, as infections such as Covid-19 will continue in the coming years, according to the project document.

This funding is from the international financial institution’s Covid-19 fast-track facility. Under this, both the entities ( Indian government & World Bank ) will work on adopting the best international practices. The progress on key indicators such as percentage of confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus, who responded within 48 hours would be measured under the project.

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This development comes at a time when India is witnessing a rapid surge in the COVID-19-infected patients. Last week, PM Narendra Modi too constituted PM CARES (Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation) fund, which aims to deal with the distress situations such as COVID-19 pandemic.