BEIRUT: The World Bank has approved a $40 million loan to Lebanon to strengthen the Health Ministrys response against the coronavirus outbreak in the country, a statement released Thursday night said.

The loan, approved on March 12, is a re-allocation from the Lebanon Health Resilience Project, which consists of a total of $120 million dollars in loans, and is aimed at assisting the countrys response to the pandemic, the World Bank statement said.

The COVID-19 outbreak is stressing an already strained health sector and setting back Lebanons efforts in its fight against poverty. There are concerns that the outbreak will particularly hit the poor and the refugee population, the World Bank statement said.

The statement acknowledged the Lebanese governments efforts to fight coronavirus however warned that the unmet needs are immense, and Lebanon is under-equipped to respond to such a global pandemic.

"This outbreak comes at a time when Lebanons economy is already going through the worst economic crisis in recent history and the government of Lebanon has limited resources to respond," Saroj Kumar Jha, World Bank Middle East regional director said in the statement.

Lebanon has been plagued with an unprecedented economic and financial crisis in the past few months, with banks imposing tight capital controls on withdrawals and transfers of foreign currency, triggered by a dollar shortage in the country, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs and the closure of hundreds of businesses.

The $40 million dollar loan will support the Lebanese government in three main areas, according to the statement: surveillance and case detection, case management and protection of health workers, multisectoral response to support multisectoral activities.

The loan will be directed to equip governmental hospitals to be able to test patients for coronavirus and treat suspected cases. Urgently needed medical supplies and equipment is underway through United Nations agencies, according to the World Bank statement.

Those include Personal Protective Equipment, and five PCR machines and testing kits, which cover six months supply needs of governmental hospitals, in addition to 50 ventilators and 12 electrocardiogram machines that will be delivered in batches over a period of six weeks.

According to the statement 70 additional ventilators are also being procured by the Health Ministry through private firms.

The Rafik Hariri University Hospital has so far been the hub for testing and receiving coronavirus patients in Lebanon ever since the first case was recorded on Feb. 21.

More public hospitals in different governorates have joined the fight since, in addition to some private hospitals.

Lebanons current coronavirus toll is at 494 including 16 deaths.

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