WHO hails Sheikh Mohamed's support in tackling COVID-19 pandemic

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and to the government of the UAE, for the support provided for the Organisation that is represented in 500,000 COVID-19 testing kits worth $10m.

The Director-General of the WHO also stressed that the UAE is a global and strategic partner to the Organisation, expressing his gratitude for the continued support of the country to the WHO to suppress and control COVID-19 globally.

Ghebreyesus said on twitter, “The UAE is a strategic global partner of the WHO and we are grateful for their continued support of our shared mission to suppress and control COVID-19 globally.”

He continued, “Huge thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed & the people of the UAE for contributing 500,000 COVID-19 testing kits worth $10m to the WHO. This will strength the capacity and availability of testing in many countries.”

The UAE on June 5, announced that it had donated $10 million worth of PCR COVID-19 testing kits sufficient for 500,000 people to the World Health Organisation.

The donation was made in cooperation with Group 42 (G42), a leading UAE Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing company, and Chinese genome sequencing giant BGI. The donation of the testing kits supports global efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in light of the scarcity of testing supplies in several countries.

In the same context, the Cuban Government praised the medical aid provided by the UAE during an official ceremony held in the country's capital, Havana.

The UAE recently dispatched an aid plane carrying eight metric tonnes of medical supplies to support Cuba in curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Commenting on the occasion, UAE Ambassador to Cuba Bader Abdulla Saeed Almatroshi said, "The coronavirus pandemic has emphasised the importance of international cooperation. UAE aid comes within the framework of cooperation between our two countries in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. It also demonstrates the UAE leadership's solidarity with Cuba via its support of frontline workers working tirelessly to combat the virus."

For his part, Dr Nestor Marrimon Torres, Director of International Relations and Collaboration at the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, expressed the Ministry's gratitude to the UAE Government for its medical support to combat COVID-19.

He noted that all the medical supplies provided will be utilised to enhance public health institutions' efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Dr Manuel Romero Placeres, Director of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in Havana, commented, "On behalf of our national health system and the people of Cuba, we offer the UAE all thanks and appreciation for the assistance that will enable us to control this infectious disease."

The ceremony was attended by a number of Cuban health officials, specialists, and members of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute.