U.S. gov’t coosts Manila’s fight against COVID-19

U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim today visited the Delpan Quarantine Facility in Tondo, Manila, to hand over 5,000 hygiene kits and 16 handwashing stations to Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno in support of the city government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The U.S. government is a friend, partner, and ally of the Manileños in facing this pandemic,” Ambassador Kim stated.  “The American people are pleased to support the City of Manila’s efforts to fight COVID-19.”  To date, the U.S. government has invested more than Php1 billion ($22.6 million) to support the Philippines’ COVID-19 response.

The hygiene kits, which contain face masks, soap, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, and toothbrushes, provide an additional form of protection against COVID-19 through the provision of items essential to practicing good personal hygiene.

To complement the donation, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will continue to collaborate with the Manila City Health Office to help ensure that citizens can access quality tuberculosis services during the pandemic as well as to support the rollout of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) strategy to contain the pandemic.  USAID also recently donated two ventilators to the Tondo Medical Center as a part of the 100 brand-new, state-of-the-art ventilators that the U.S. government handed over on August 28 to the Philippine government.

The hygiene kits and handwashing stations are part of BIDA Solusyon, a national information campaign to fight COVID-19, implemented through a partnership between the Department of Health, USAID, and American company Procter and Gamble (P&G).  Through this campaign, USAID and P&G are providing 70,000 hygiene kits to help DOH and local governments nationwide to fight COVID-19.