World Bank approves $1 billion Emergency Fund for India to help tackle Coronavirus

New Delhi: The World Bank has approved one billion US Dollars Emergency Fund for India to help it tackle the Corona virus pandemic, which has claimed 56 lives and infected 2,301 people in the country.

The World Bank’s first set of aid projects, amounting to 1.9 billion US Dollars, will assist 25 countries, the bank said yesterday. It added that new operations are moving forward in over 40 nations using the fast-track process.

The largest chunk of the emergency financial assistance of one billion US Dollars has gone to India. The bank said that the fund will support India in better screening, contact tracing, laboratory diagnostics, procuring personal protective equipment and setting up new isolation wards.

In South Asia, the World Bank also approved 200 million US Dollars for Pakistan, 100 million for Afghanistan, 7.3 million for the Maldives and 128.6 million for Sri Lanka.

The World Bank said, it was now working to grant up to 160 billion US Dollars over the next 15 months to support measures to tackle the pandemic which will focus on the immediate health consequences and bolster economic recovery.