CABEI grants Cuba more than 100,000 tests for real-time COVID-19 detection

Havana, April 28, 2021- Through non-reimbursable financial cooperation from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and executed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Republic of Cuba was granted a donation of more than 100,000 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests that can detect the COVID-19 virus in real time.

The emergency aid will contribute to Cuba's efforts to control a resurgence of SARS CoV-2. The tests will be delivered to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), the current reference center for SARS CoV-2 diagnosis, and to 23 other molecular biology laboratories in the country.

CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi, explained that the Bank's donation amounts to €935,600 and is part of the Emergency COVID-19 Support and Preparedness and Economic Reactivation Program's actions, designed by CABEI to support the efforts of the Central American Integration System countries and their extra-regional member countries in the fight against the coronavirus.

This initiative is also part of the United Nations System's (UN) Immediate Socioeconomic Response Plan in Cuba to accompany the country's recovery efforts in the face of the pandemic, which contributes to strengthening the health system's capacity to confront COVID-19.

The Republic of Cuba has been an extra-regional member of CABEI since July 11, 2018, making CABEI the first multilateral organization in the region to receive this nation as one of its members.