On Tuesday 1 September, 500,000 coronavirus test kits were delivered to the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa (African Union seat in Ethiopia) by an EU humanitarian airlift flight, the Commission announced on the same day.
The kits, which were delivered by an EU humanitarian airlift flight, were provided by the German Epidemic Preparedness Team (SEEG). They are part of a €10 million German government programme of immediate support to the African Union in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In total, nearly 1.4 million tests for the virus will be made available to African Union countries.
“This specific consignment will be able to reach a large number of countries, as it will support the African Union’s continental response”, said the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.
In June, under the ‘Team Europe’ initiative, the EU, its Member States, and European investment banks mobilised €10 million to facilitate the implementation of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for Covid-19 Outbreak. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)