US President Donald Trump pledged to provide ventilators to Ethiopia in response to a request from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during phone conversation on Saturday.
With a population of 110 million, Ethiopia has less than 400 ventilators and according to health professionals the nation will face critical shortages of the machine in case the spread of coronavirus turns to be worse in the country.
“The discussion with President Donald Trump was encouraging in enhancing the continued ties between Ethiopia and the United States. He pledged to support Ethiopia in COVID prevention and mitigation efforts as well as on desert locust control,” Abiy tweeted
Meanwhile, Ethiopia on Saturday reported five new cases of coronavirus out of the 1, 019 samples taken over the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 122.
Four of the five cases are Chinese nationals residing in Sebeta town, Oromia regional state, who had contact with previously confirmed case, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Health.
The other one is an Ethiopian living in Addis Ababa, it said.Ethiopia has so far reported three deaths and 29 recoveries from the virus.
MG/abj/APA