Monrovia – Liberia has received two separate consignments of medical materials to help combat the Coronavirus outbreak which is ravaging the entire globe.
The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma have sent respective supplies of medical materials to the West African nation, which currently has three confirmed cases and has reported no death caused by the virus so far.
The medical supplies include laboratory testing kits, face masks and personal protective equipment (PPEs) among others.
“As part of providing needed medical assistance to our member states, ECOWAS (WAHO) dispatched the second batch of diagnostic kits of 1000 to Liberia and was received today,” the regional organization said.
According to the ECOWAS distribution list obtained by FrontPageAfrica, the regional bloc has distributed 28,500 testing kits to all its 15 member states with the National Public Health Institute of Liberia receiving 1,000 pieces for the country.
At the same time, Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba who recently vowed to donate “equal amount” of medical gears to all 54 African countries as a means of helping to fight the COVID-19, has made good his promise to Liberia. On March 27, Liberia received its share of the supplies from the Alibaba founder.
“The supplies included 20,000 laboratory diagnostic test kits, 100,000 medical face masks and 1,000 protective suits and face shields, which will be used in the fight against COVID-19 in Liberia,” a release from the Chinese embassy in Monrovia stated.
“The donation vividly demonstrates the brotherly bond and strong determination for fighting against the Coronavirus together between China and Liberia. China will continue its support and assistance to Liberia’s efforts in battling the pandemic.”
The equipment will be distributed to frontline health workers and hospital laboratories, Mr. Ma added.
Liberia, which already has resources constraints in dealing with public health issues, has not recorded any new confirmed case of the virus since March 20.
However, NPHIL stated in its update on March 28 that there was a suspected case in Grand Gedeh County with a 22-year-old lady showing signs and symptoms of the virus. This makes the total number of suspected cases four, with 390 contacts including 40 health workers already recorded.
NPHIL also added that s total of 13 contacts have tested negative for the virus with 71 contacts completing the 14 days follow up.