New Delhi: the globe is presently facing a plague of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that started in China in Dec 2019 and unfold to alternative components of the world among many days. because the infection unfold, the globe Health Organisation (WHO) declared the crisis a world health emergency on January thirty. To fight this health emergency, WHO has launched a readiness and response set up which needs a add of US$ 657 million (Rs. 4826.3 large integer approximately). This has light-emitting diode numerous organisations like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, European Commission and governments across the world, to return along and gift funds towards WHO’s set up and alternative efforts being applied by numerous health agencies. The WHO’s Strategic readiness and Response set up (SPRP) for the new coronavirus lays out activities and resources required by numerous international health organisations together with WHO to implement pressing health measures, with Associate in Nursing aim to support countries to arrange and answer 2019-nCoV. in line with a Public Relation Officer of WHO, as of now, the set up amount for SPRP is February-April, 2020.
While reprimand the media on Frithroughout WHO’s daily news conference on coronavirus, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN agency Director-General aforementioned,
We have been receiving generous donations which we are very grateful for because in the struggle to know more about the new coronavirus and respond to it, every dollar counts. The situation has become a crisis and there is even a global shortage of anti-virus protective gear to save people from the virus.
Earlier during January, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a commitment of US$ 10 million for assisting frontline fitnesswork in China to accelerate their efforts to comprisethe worldwidespread of the virus. Later on Wednesday, the Foundation pledged US$ one hundred million more for the globalresponse to 2019-nCoV.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said in a statement,
Multilateral organisations, national governments, the private sector and philanthropies must work together to slow the pace of the outbreak, help countries protect their most vulnerable citizens and accelerate the development of the tools to bring this epidemic under control. Our hope is that these resources will help catalyze a rapid and effective international response. This response should be guided by science, not fear, and it should build on the steps that the World Health Organization has taken to date.
According to Country Deputy Director, Brand, Program and Behavioural Communications at India Country Office of the Gates Foundation, Archna Vyas,
The foundation will immediately commit up to $20 million to accelerate the detection, isolation and treatment of people diagnosed with the virus with the goal of interrupting transmission and containing the disease. It will commit up to $60 million to accelerate the discovery, development and testing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for 2019-nCoV. The rest will be used to help global partners, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, identify and prioritize research needs, address gaps in the research and development landscape, incentivize product development by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and ensure that resulting products are safe, effective and made widely available.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has pledged US$ 14 million to the efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine through his Jack Ma Foundation. About two weeks ago he also announced a donation of US$ 144 million to help hospitals buy urgent medical supplies in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus. Donations are also pouring in from Chinese tech giants Baidu, Tencent, Huawei and ByteDance who have together pledged a sum of US$ 115 million.
Microsoft, Dell, L’Oreal and Cargill have collectively donated US$ 1.4 million to the Chinese Red Cross. The European Commission has also pledged 10 million Euros (US$ 10.95 million) for the urgently needed research into coronavirus. The United Kingdom government has donated £20 million (US$ 25.85 million) for the cause. Japan has made a contribution of US$ 10 million on Friday.
According to WHO, the funds pledged to them, which is US$110 million till now, will be used to accelerate the detection, isolation and treatment of people diagnosed with the virus.
WHO has stated that the funds will be used for developing vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for a long-term impact and for enhancing protection from and prevention of spread of the virus. Dr. Ghebreyesus, during the press conference, said that science has already made some progress towards fighting the virus by knowing more about it. He said,
We have already learnt so much about it. We know its DNA, we know it can be transmitted from one person to other. The most at risk are the elder people and those who have underlined health conditions. Having the genetic sequence of the virus has enabled the rapid development of vaccines and treatments.
WHO has earlier stated that while the organisation is pushing the efforts to respond to the outbreak, the process of developing and testing drugs or vaccines against a new pathogen normally takes many years and is often fraught with pitfalls and failures. It further said that even at the accelerated pace enabled by new technologies, the earliest that scientists hope to be able to start initial human trials of a new coronavirus vaccine is by June this year.
According to the World Health Organisation, since the outbreak there has been 28,276 confirmed cases globally, as on February 6. This includes 28,060 cases in China and 216 cases in 25 countries including India. The death toll has been on a rise too with 564 casualties in China and one in Philippines.
Source: https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/