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Ambassador says Ethiopia requests Russia’s assistance in combating coronavirus

When speaking about the coronavirus situation in the country, the ambassador said that about 85 people have been infected and 14 have already been discharged from hospitals

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Ethiopia’s authorities have requested Moscow’s assistance in combating the coronavirus, Ethiopian Ambassador to Russia Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau told TASS on Thursday.

"We requested, we are waiting for the assistance," he said in response to a question. The ambassador pointed out that Russia had always been friendly to Ethiopia.

When speaking about the coronavirus situation in the country, the ambassador said that about 85 people have been infected and 14 have already been discharged from hospitals.

"There is a very strong task force to control the spread of this virus. The task force is led by the Prime Minister, His Excellency Doctor Abiy Ahmed. Now everything is under control," Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Moscow would consider requests from any country seeking Russia’s assistance in the fight against the pandemic.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 134,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 516,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.