Germany Commits Additional $5.7 Million to Support Cambodia’s COVID Fight

A woman wears a face mask, amid concerns over a spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, as she walks past a closed primary school in Phnom Penh on November 12, 2020. (Photo: AFP)
  • Sao Phal Niseiy
  • March 12, 2021 7:42 AM

Cash includes aid for returning migrant workers



PHNOM PENH--Germany has pledged a further $5.7 million (€4.8 million) to help Cambodia fight COVID-19.



The German Embassy in Phnom Penh said the extra cash will be allocated to three German Development Cooperation programs, which will last until the end of this year.



Of the $5.7 million, $2.15 million (€1.8 million) will be used to improve the ability of the Cambodian Government to monitor the spread of the pandemic by enhancing the national laboratory network and surveillance capacities as well as encouraging campaigns to promote COVID-19 awareness.



Another $1.2 million (€1 million) will be to help the returning migrant workers who are unemployed in the north-west provinces through cash-for-work schemes and the provision of training and supplies for small-scale farming and animal husbandry.  



“$2.4 million (€2 million) will be used to strengthen the On-Demand poverty identification system (OD IDPoor), which has been instrumental in identifying people fallen into poverty because of the pandemic,” the embassy said on March 11.



The German government has provided more than $17 million to support Cambodia’s COVID-19 response since the start of the pandemic in addition to its development cooperation portfolio.

Last March, Germany committed around $1.6 million (€1.5 million) to the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh to assist in preventing, detecting, and responding to the rapid spread of COVID-19. This was followed by an emergency package of $8.2 million (€7 million) to support Cambodia’s fight against the pandemic in late September.



As of March 12, Cambodia has had 1225 COVID-19 cases, with 619 patients having recovered and one death.



 


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