Asian Development Bank Approves $3 Million Grant To Help Kazakhstan Tackle COVID-19

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved last week a $3 million grant from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF) to help Kazakhstan's contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic.

The support, which is financed by the government of Japan, will be used to procure essential medicine and medical equipment in order to expand the capacity of the country’s health care system.

“ADB is strongly committed to supporting Kazakhstan in this challenging time,” said ADB Country Director for Kazakhstan Giovanni Capannelli, according to a statement published to the bank’s website. 

“This grant complements ADB’s ongoing assistance to the government in meeting its most urgent needs in fighting the pandemic,” he added. 

The number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan has risen to 105,872, after 77 more cases were reported on Tuesday, according to the local media reports. As of today, 1,523 coronavirus-related fatalities have been recorded, while 96,899 recoveries have been accounted for.

Lockdown in the largest country of Central Asia began on March 16 and was subsequently extended several times until May, when it was partly lifted. After a major resurgence in COVID-19 and often-related pneumonia cases, the government again imposed a lockdown on July 5 and later extended it until the mid-August. On August 12, the Kazakh government announced that it would gradually ease the lockdown measures. 

“The softening should be carried out with strict observance of mask wearing and hygiene requirements in public places,” said Alexey Tsoi, who heads the country’s health ministry.

While the first phase of easing lockdown rules began on August 17, the second went into effect on the last day of the month.

Kazakhstan became a member of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1994, shortly after it achieved independence. During the past 26 years, ADB has aided Kazakhstan with financing, technical assistance, and knowledge support as part of its sovereign operations. Since 1994, ADB has committed $5.2 billion in loans, and $48.8 million technical assistance projects, including ADB-administered co-financing for Kazakhstan.

Earlier this year, the bank has approved a $1 billion assistance package to help Kazakhstan mitigate the health, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic. In addition, a $1 million grant from ADB’s ongoing regional technical assistance is being disbursed to procure personal protective equipment for healthcare workers in the Central Asian country.

ADB has been partnering with the United Nations (UN) Development Program to improve Kazakhstan’s medical waste management system. The bank is also working closely with the Kazakh health ministry to improve its COVID-19 Management Center’s system for receiving online applications used to register and monitor data on infected people, as well as to assist those who recovered from infection.