The Republic of Somaliland received its first shipment of medical aid from the United Arab Emirates today. The heavy Ilyushin Il-76TD Russian transport plane touched down on Egal International Airport in the early morning hours loaded with medical supplies intended for COVID-19 pandemic.

Guddida ka hortaga iyo u diyaargarowga xanuunka COVID19 waxa ay dowladda Imaaratka Carabta deeq ka guddoomeen kaalmo caafimaad ah muhiim u ah ka tortaga faafitaanka xanuunka #COVID19.#UAE#Somaliland pic.twitter.com/c3NpQKTMzF — National Preparedness Committee for COVID19 (@NPCCOVID19) April 8, 2020

The shipment of medical supplies from the UAE was received by the Ministers of Health, Finance, Religious Affairs and Endowment and the Director of Civil Aviation Commission. There was no immediate information available on the exact content and the size of the aid from the United Arab Emirates.

The transport plane carrying medical aid has also landed in Bossasso, the capital of Puntland region of neighboring Somalia where it has delivered similar aid to Puntland authorities.

No additional cases of COVID-19 has been identified in Somaliland since March 31st when the Minister of Health Hon. Omar Abdillahi Ali announced two cases, a Chinese national and a Somaliland citizen who returned from the UK.

COVID-19 is still gripping much of the world with sharp increase in fatalities in the United States and elsewhere. Below live dashboard from Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University has the latest grim statistics.

Somaliland government has taken a number of steps in COVID-19 prevention including the acquisition of a diagnostics lab as announced by the National Preparedness Committee for COVID19 on social media yesterday.