President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday encouraged African countries to collaborate more in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic through information sharing and pooling of intervention resources.
Kenyatta appreciated the support Africa has received from the international community but emphasized the need for the continent to unite in the fight against Covid-19 saying it will yield better results.
“I want to say that we need to be able to work together and to pool whatever little resources we have and show that we are also capable of coming together to defeat this virus,” Kenyatta said in a virtual meeting of the African Union Bureau.
The president said African states needed to be each other’s keeper at this time, and not entirely depend on support from outside the continent.
“We are facing financial, material, and structural constraints. However, we must also face up to the reality that resources are finite everywhere and even the richest countries today are struggling in the wake of this global pandemic,” said Kenyatta.
So far, African countries led by South Africa and Egypt have pledged 61 million US Dollars for the fight against the virus on the continent, and the president urged more countries to contribute to the kitty.
During the meeting there was concern over the rise of infections on a daily basis in some African countries, with 10 countries having over a thousand cases, and three of them have passed the four thousand mark.
So far the African continent has recorded over 28,000 COVID-19 infections, with at least 1300 deaths and 8,200 recoveries.
South Africa and Morocco are leading with over 3,900 and 3,500 infections respectively.
Comoros and Lesotho have zero recorded cases.
