UNITED NATIONS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- With an alarmingly high COVID-19 fatality rate in Yemen, UN humanitarians said they are scaling up aid to the war-torn country despite the looming threat of underfunding.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday that with 303 deaths out of 1,122 confirmed cases since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Yemen on April 10, the fatality rate is five times the global average.
More than 12,000 metric tons of medical equipment, testing kits and medicine have been obtained, with 8,616 metric tons of it already in the country, OCHA said.
The World Health Organization reported it has equipped and added 21 intensive care units in COVID-19-designated hospitals since the beginning of May.
"Humanitarian partners are deploying two high-capacity mobile field hospitals with nearly 100 beds and providing salaries to 9,000 front-line health care workers," OCHA said. "Aid agencies are also responding to other deadly diseases, including cholera, diphtheria, dengue and malaria, and providing nutrition treatment to pregnant women and malnourished children."
Critical water and sanitation services needed to suppress the spread of the virus and other deadly diseases will come to a halt for 8.4 million people, including 3 million children, and will close in the coming weeks if new funds are not provided immediately, the humanitarian office said.
For the COVID-19 response alone, aid agencies require 180 million U.S. dollars, with only 49 million dollars already received, OCHA said.
International donors announced a month ago pledges of a combined 1.35 billion dollars when 2.41 billion dollars is needed to cover essential humanitarian activities between June and December, leaving a gap of more than 1 billion dollars.
With only 558 million dollars provided so far, the aid operation in Yemen is on the brink of collapse unless donors fulfil their pledges immediately, OCHA said. Enditem
