EU Donates 72,000 CONVID-19 Detection Kits to Guatemala. EU playing major humanitarian role in USA absents
Today Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei received seventy two thousand (72,000) RT-PCR tests for the detection and diagnosis of the virus causing the respiratory syndrome of COVID-19 as part of a donation of the European Union (EU). This support will serve to strengthen the institutional response of the Government of Guatemala to this pandemic that the COVID-19 virus has caused worldwide.
President Giammattei thanked the historic support that the European Union offers to Guatemala, especially in times of pandemic “there are friends we have to honor as the European Union is. These 72 thousand tests may seem like a small amount, but in reality they are a great contribution to a country that is requiring to use many of its resources, referring them to emergency care, “he said. The president also announced that in the next few days friendly governments will be joining with the donation of other tests that will help meet the needs with special equipment for mobile laboratories and go to communities to detect cases.
For his part, Ambassador Stephano Gatto stated that the European Union has reoriented its programs to support allied governments in their fight to contain the COVID-19 contagion. “These 72 thousand tests are a small contribution to Guatemala, we would like they were more but the demand for it is very high, which makes it difficult to obtain it in the whole world ”, he said, at the same time he made it clear that it was obtained thanks to the joint work between the EU.
The symbolic delivery of the donation was made at the facilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was in charge of the Ambassador of the European Union in Guatemala, Mr. Stefano Gatto and Mr. Oscar Barreneche, representative of PAHO / WHO in Guatemala.
The tests received come from the European Virus Archive consortium, a group of 25 laboratories funded by the EU, including the Institute of Medical Immunology of the Charité University in Berlin, endorsed by the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ambassador Gatto indicated that the objective of this donation is to help raise the capacity to carry out tests to prevent the virus from spreading correctly. Oscar Berreneche highlighted that the EU and the Team of Europe, made up locally by Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Sweden, have redirected various economic resources to provide aid and assistance to partner and friendly countries such as Guatemala, to improve capacity response and better deal with this global crisis. They also stressed that another priority aid area will continue to be the fight against malnutrition.
President Giammattei said that since February of this year, Guatemala has implemented various measures to control the spread of this virus in the country, however “for the country it has been essential to count on the support of international cooperation to cope the consequences caused by COVID-19 ”emphasized the president. He recalled that international cooperation has played an important role in equipping specialized hospitals, providing medical supplies, medicines and food for those who are most vulnerable and that the economic impact that this virus has generated has affected them greatly. “
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