Cairo – Mubasher: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated 250 ventilators for intensive care units in hospitals in Egypt to contribute to the efforts in combatting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“The COVID-19 challenge has pushed stronger cooperation between countries to meet evolving humanitarian needs,” the Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al Mashat, said in a statement on Sunday.

In April, Egypt donated a package of medical aid to the US to support the country’s fight against the pandemic.

The US ambassador to Egypt, Jonathan Cohen, said, “The donation of 250 ventilators to hospitals throughout Egypt represents the latest step in the joint efforts by Egypt and the US to fight COVID-19.”

The ventilators will be provided to a total of 24 hospitals in 12 governorates which have been identified as having a need for ventilators.

Since 1978, the USAID’s cooperation portfolio in Egypt has registered over $30 billion in a wide range of sectors and more than $1 billion has been invested to develop the country’s health system.