Jakarta – The United Kingdom has revealed a commitment to donate $1 million worth of critical healthcare equipment to Indonesia, where new Covid-19 cases and deaths are surging due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
The donation will be used to purchase oxygen concentrators which will be used to provide lifesaving treatment to those most in need, the UK Embassy in Jakarta said in a statement on Wednesday.
The pledge follows the arrival of the first donation of 620,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the UK to Indonesia on Monday.
"As a close friend and partner, we stand with Indonesia in their fight against COVID-19," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was quoted as saying.
"We are sharing 1 million vaccines and medical equipment to support Indonesia's response and recovery from the pandemic. No one is safe until we are all safe."
Indonesia has seen a dramatic surge in newly cases since late June while the daily death toll also began to top 1,000 in mid-July.
The donation will strengthen the UK and Indonesia's wider health partnership in areas such as vaccine development and genomic sequencing, the embassy said.
"As Foreign Minister Ibu Retno Marsudi has said, the only way to exit this pandemic is through cooperation. This healthcare equipment can help those in need, save lives and accelerate Indonesia's recovery," Deputy British Ambassador to Indonesia Rob Fenn said.
According to the embassy, the UK is the fourth biggest bilateral donor to global vaccine donor Covax, having given $548 million. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last month that the UK would give 100 million vaccine doses to Covax and countries that most need them over the next year.
In addition to the doses provided through Covax, the UK has agreed that over 4 million doses will be available to be shared bilaterally by the end of September with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Kenya and commonwealth countries in the Caribbean.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/uk-donates-healthcare-equipment-to-help-covid-patients-in-indonesi