MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government received nearly $4 million or approximately P200 million in health assistance from the US in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A report released by the US Department of State stated that Washington has released approximately $18.3 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to ASEAN member states as of March 26.
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"Nearly $4 million in health assistance will help the Philippines government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, risk communication, infection prevention and control, and more," the report read.
Among its ASEAN neighbors, the Philippines acquired the largest amount of financial assistance from the US in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
It also indicated that the US Department of Defense's Defense Reduction Agency also provided locally-sourced personal protective equipment (PPEs), training, exercises and laboratory equipment and materials to the Philippines.
According to the report, the Philippines has received more than $582 million in health assistance and nearly $4.5 billion in total assistance from the US in the past 20 years.
As of Tuesday, the Philippines has recorded 2,084 COVID-19 cases with 88 deaths.
The US also provided financial assistance to Cambodia ($2 million), Indonesia ($2.3 million), Laos (nearly $2 million), Myanmar ($3.8 million), Thailand ($1.2 million) and Vietnam (nearly $3 million).
The US has yet to provide the request of Brunei and Malaysia for respirators and PPEs after US domestic demands are met.
"Our country continues to be the single largest health and humanitarian donor for both long-term development and capacity building efforts with partners, and emergency response efforts in the face of recurrent crises," the US Department of State said.
A total of 40,057 deaths have been recorded across the world, including 29,305 in Europe, with Italy registering 12,428, followed by Spain with 8,189 and China with 3,305.
Since the virus emerged in China in December, 803,645 global infections have been confirmed, more than half of them in Europe, which has 440,928.;
The United States and Canada has 172,071 cases and 3,243 deaths and Asia has 108,421 cases with 3,882 deaths. — with Agence France-Presse