In a press release on April 20, the World Bank announced that it had approved a USD 50 million credit for the Myanmar COVID-19 Emergency Response Project. “This fast-track financing will help Myanmar fill a critical gap in its contingency plan to urgently increase hospital preparedness and surge capacity in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, protect health workers, and minimize the severity of illness and associated deaths”, said Mariam Sherman, World Bank Country Director for Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR.

The project primarily focuses on upscaling of Intensive Care Units (ICU) at selected hospitals, along with capacity building of health staff and officials, and community engagement activities throughout the country. Eight central level hospitals and 43 Region and State level hospitals, across all Regions and States, will be covered, with implementation rolled out in a phased manner, starting with the most at-risk areas, such as densely populated areas and areas with frequent travel and migration.