The United Kingdom, while commending the generous aid from Saudi Arabia, is very grateful to the Kingdom for donating "hundreds of thousands of medical gowns" to the country's National Health Service (NHS), UK's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab said on Sunday. In a tweet the British minster said, "Very grateful to Saudi Arabia for the generous donation of hundreds of thousands of medical gowns to our NHS. Britain and Saudi Arabia will continue to work together to tackle this global pandemic." Britain has the third highest number of coronavirus deaths after the United States and Brazil. Raab's assertion that the two countries will join forces to ‘tackle this global pandemic' and his fulsome praise stems from the fact that Saudi Arabia has already assisted many other countries and organizations to develop and sustain their medical infrastructure during this pandemic. This aid to UK comes after Saudi Arabia, host of this year's G20, also led a recent Global Response Pledging Marathon, along with the European Union, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Norway. Saudi Arabia has already pledged $500 million to international organizations to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Of this, the country will allocate $150 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI), $150 million to The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), and $200 million to other international and regional health organizations and programs. Saudi Arabia had, earlier, agreed to contribute $25 million to support childhood immunization programs through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The multi-year pledge from the Kingdom contributes towards efforts to immunize children in Yemen. Saudi Arabia had also pledged its full support to help combat the deadly coronavirus in China. More than 66,000 were infected in China after the virus emerged in the Hubei capital Wuhan in December and spread nationwide a month later. Under the directive of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Saudi Arabia and China signed six joint contracts to provide medical assistance, which include: providing 300,000 protective masks, 1,159 medical devices, and 1,000 isolation suits. The Kingdom will also provide China with high-technology medical equipment, such as ultrasound machines, non-invasive ventilators, and defibrillators. In addition the Kingdom, through its representative The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) had signed an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to join hands against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The center will provide $10 million to the WHO to combat COVID-19. The WHO expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for extending generous support to this humanitarian cause. WHO has used these funds to purchase safety kits for health workers and laboratory equipment to boost research to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. KSRelief, in its ongoing aid to Yemen, delivered medical aid to Yemen to combat the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in its various provinces. The medical aid included protective masks, intravenous fluids and intravenous infusion pumps, as well as thermal cameras for epidemiological surveillance in order to support and improve the capabilities of the Yemeni Ministry of Health to counter the outbreak of coronavirus in Yemen. — SG
