TASHKENT

Uzbekistan secured a $100 million long-term loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and another $100 million loan with similar terms from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds will be used to take urgent measures to counter the coronavirus infection and reinforce the Central Asian nation’s health system, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in a decree.

The government plans to use funds to refurbish 16 hospitals as COVID-19 centres, strengthen 38 laboratories and supply equipment to increase testing capacity for COVID-19 and other diseases, purchase 1,000 new ambulances, train healthcare workers to identify the COVID-19 cases and develop a real-time digital reporting system.

In May 2020, the ADB  allocated a $1.6 million grant for Uzbekistan to procure medical equipment and supplies to support the country’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The grant was paid out in addition to $200,000 in technical assistance allocated to Uzbekistan in March last year to acquire medical supplies, while $19.5 million in loan savings from existing ADB projects had been reallocated to enable Central Asia’s most populous country to acquire 800 ventilators.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, ADB has been working with the government and other development partners to mobilise additional resources to further strengthen Uzbekistan’s health care systems.

In April 2020, ADB tripled its initial package to $20 billion to address the immediate needs of its developing member countries, including Uzbekistan, as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June last year, ADB approved a $500 million loan to help Uzbekistan mitigate the adverse health and economic impact of the pandemic. The loan supported initiatives to help businesses affected by the downturn, including tax measures and loan repayment to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

President Mirziyoyev said earlier this year there were no plans to introduce a new full lockdown, despite increases in the number of infections.

Uzbekistan launched its mass vaccination campaign on April 1, with 5,000 people inoculated on the first day. The government has said it wants to vaccinate 60 percent of the population by July 2021.