Asian Development Bank provides $3 mn grant to India to combat COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi: Multilateral funding agency ADB on Wednesday said it has approved $3 million (about Rs  22 crore) grant to India from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund to further support the government’s emergency response to COVID-19 pandemic. The grant, which is financed by the Japanese government, will be used to procure thermal scanners and essential commodities to strengthen the India’s COVID-19 response, Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a statement. “The new grant complements ADB’s ongoing support to the Government of India in strengthening its COVID-19 response. This support will enhance disease surveillance and help in early detection, contact tracing, and treatment. This will be further supplemented by other public health measures,” it said. On 28 April, ADB approved $1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) programme to support India in its immediate pandemic response efforts, including disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection measures for the poor and economically vulnerable, particularly women and disadvantaged groups. The CARES programme is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Counter-cyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s $ 20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries’ pandemic response, which was announced on 13 April.