Team Europe donates 1.4m test kits to AU

Addis Ababa, October 8, 2020 (FBC) -The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), through the African Union (AU), today received the third and last batch of 1.4 million COVID-19 test kits donated by Germany.

The kits were delivered through a European Union (EU) Humanitarian Air Bridge flight as part of the EU’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, worth over €26 million, with contributions from the EU, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Sweden.

The donation is to provide direct support for implementation of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 Outbreak and the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) across Africa.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Team Europe has mobilized support for response in Africa through a variety of actions designed to help bridge the supply and capacity gaps and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the continent.

The kits will be distributed to African Union Member States as were the previously donated kits, which have helped more than 24 African countries to perform over 700,000 tests.

The handover ceremony was attended by Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HRVP), Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of AU Commission, Janez Lenarčič, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, and Stephan Auer, Ambassador of Germany to Ethiopia and the AU.