The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank have reportedly approved a benefaction of $1 billion towards India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project.

The following support from the World Bank will cover all states and Union Territories across India to address the needs of infected people, vulnerable population, medical and emergency personnel and service providers, medical and testing facilities and national and animal health agencies.

As stated in a statement by World Bank on Friday, the contribution will help India procure testing kits, set up new isolation wards, better infection prevention and control, purchasing power for protective equipment, ventilators, and medicines, improvement in district hospitals and create dedicated support for hospitals designated for Coronavirus treatment.

“The project will immediately enable the Government of India (GOI) to scale-up efforts to limit human-to-human transmission, including reducing local transmission of cases and containing the epidemic from progressing further. In parallel, interventions to strengthen the health system will be rolled out to improve the country’s capacity to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic and be better prepared to respond to emerging disease outbreaks, including transmission between humans and animals,” – The World Bank