Egypt sends medical aid to Burundi to help limit coronavirus

CAIRO – 19 June 2020: The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced delivering aid of medical supplies to Burundi on Thursday, in an effort to back the African country’s medical sector amid the coronavirus crisis.

The aid also included medicines and surgical equipment. It was delivered by the Foreign Ministry’s Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD).

Egypt's Ambassador to Burundi Abeer Basyouni, director of the Egyptian-Burundian hospital Jérôme Niyungeko, and representatives from the Burundi's ministries of foreign affairs and health attended the delivery of the shipment.

Niyungeko thanked the Egyptian agency for its gesture to back the hospital that serves southern Burundi.

Basyouni stressed that the aid is part of Egypt's continuous efforts to foster relations with Burundi.



In May, Egypt sent thousands of personal protective equipment for the medical staff and sterilizers to Sudan, to help limit the spread of the novel virus.

The member of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Health Emergencies, Siddig Tawer, said that the gesture asserts the strength and deepness of relations between Egypt and Sudan.

The medical shipment arrived in Khartoum International Airport, carried by four Egyptian army planes.

Tawer described the step as a “noble” gesture from the Egyptian people that confirms the Egyptian continual support for Sudan during tough times.

The Egyptian ambassador to Sudan, Hossam Issa, said that the aid includes masks, sterilizers, ventilators, and other items used to limit the spread of the infectious virus.

Later in the same month, Egypt sent two military planes carrying medical aid to South Sudan, as per presidential directives.

The General Command of the Egyptian Armed Forces has ordered sending the aid to South Sudan to help resolve the shortage of medical supplies and medication, the Egyptian Defense Ministry said in a video published on its YouTube channel.

“This aid comes to confirm Egypt’s active role toward the brotherly African people and to provide full support to the states of the [African] continent in the periods of adversity and crisis,” the video added.

Egypt recorded Thursday, 1,218 new coronavirus cases and 88 death raising the death toll to 1,938.

Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed explained in his daily briefing that the total coronavirus cases in Egypt has reached 50,437.

As many as 387 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 13,528 so far, the spokesman said.

Also, the number of coronavirus patients who had now been retested for the virus and had received negative results has reached 14,966, he added.