Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde has joined “Rise for All”, a new initiative that brought together women leaders to mobilize support for the UN Recovery Trust Fund and the UN roadmap for social and economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic.

The first to join the initiative are President Sahle-Work Zewde, Norwegian PM Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, and other Executive Directors of UN agencies.

“Rise for All” is the United Nations Secretary-General’s initiative which calls for solidarity and urgent action in response to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19.

In her remarks, the President said “This is a global crisis. Delay in action means death. We all face the same enemy and we stand to gain by bringing the full force of humanity together to fight it. There cannot be victory over the virus in one, or some countries alone. … I stand in support of the United Nations Secretary General’s appeal for solidarity.”

The Fund aims to mobilize $1 billion over the first nine months, and $2 billion over two years, to support low-and middle-income countries, including Small Island Developing States and vulnerable groups such as women and children who are disproportionately bearing the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.

The Netherlands yesterday announced an initial contribution of $16.6 million to the Fund, following in the footsteps of Norway and Denmark, who have thus far pledged $14.1 million and $7.3 million, respectively.

Over the coming weeks, more women leaders, including from the political, multilateral, and business sectors, are expected to join the initiative.

“Team Europe” has expressed its commitment to strongly support Ethiopia in its coronavirus (COVID19) response.

It has already provided €25 million as a rapid response to the Ethiopian health sector, out of the initial €200 million for 2020.

“Team Europe” is an initiative launched by the European Union (EU) and the Member States to support partner countries around the world with €20 billion to fight the COVID19 outbreak.

“Team Europe” package has the aim of supporting the most vulnerable countries and people most at risk, in the EU’s neighbourhood, with special emphasis on Africa, and also in the Pacific, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The package combines resources from existing programmes (some €11 bn), plus support from financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (€5 bn), and from EU Member States (€4bn).

In its 19th urgent session held on Saturday, April 24, the Council of Ministers, has passed decisions after deliberating on various issues.

Among the issues discussed by the Council include measures that should be taken to address the threat posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to the country’s economy.

Ethiopia has confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 out of the 1080 samples tested over the past 24 hours.

The two confirmed cases are British nationals, including a four-year-old boy, who came from the UK and were in mandatory quarantine.

The total number of confirmed cases in Ethiopia now is 126. Fatalities remain at 3, with overall test count stands at 15, 668.

About 50 people have also recovered from the virus.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed more than 3 million, with more than 211,000 deaths and more than 925,000 recoveries.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has adopted a national tourism recovery strategy to help the industry cope with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dr. Hirut said the strategy is amid at mitigating the impact of the pandemic in the tourism industry of the nation.

The strategy was referred to different stakeholders for discussion, and incorporated recommendations of the tourism committee and regional offices, she noted.

The strategy helps international tourists to adjust their visit plans to Ethiopia, and have clear view of tourist destinations after the novel coronavirus is contained at the global level, Dr Hirut said that the strategy is adopted in compliance with recovery measures recommended by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to mitigate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in the world tourism economy.

President Sahlework Zewdie participated in the UNESCO‬ second round video conference aimed at halving the impact of COVID-19 on the global education.

According to Office of the President, during the meeting parties have reached an agreement to draft policy recommendation in the move to ease the long-term impact of COVID-19 on education and development.

The Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO seeks to facilitate inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption, it was learned.

More than 1.5 billion students and youth across the planet are affected by school and university closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

UNESCO recommended for distance education in remote learning should both alleviate the immediate disruption caused by COVID-19 and establish approaches to develop more open and flexible education systems for the future.

This will help for the continuity of education when so many children can no longer go to school, the office added.

Ethiopia has reported one new case of the coronavirus (COVID-19), out of the 943 samples taken over the past 24 hours.

A 45-year-old British national of Ethiopian origin has tested positive for the virus, said the Ministry of Health in a statement today.

He had a travel history from the United Kingdom (UK) and was in a mandatory quarantine, the statement added.

Nine people have also recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 50.

The total number of confirmed cases now is 124. Deaths remain at 3, with overall test count stands at 14, 588.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed more than 3 million, with more than 207,000 deaths and more than 882,000 recoveries

The 3rd-round medical shipment of Jack Ma Foundation will arrive in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa this afternoon (April 27th).

Representatives from the African Union (AU) and the Ethiopian Government will attend the event to be held at Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services.

The medical supplies donated by Ma foundation include 4.6m masks, 500,000 swabs and test kits, 300 ventilators, 200,000 clothing sets, 200,000 face shields, 2,000 thermal guns, 100 body temperature scanners and 500,000 pairs of gloves.

 

ባለፉት 24 ሰዓት ውስጥ በተደረገ 957 የላቦራቶሪ ምርመራ አንድ ሰው የኮሮና ቫይረስ እንደተገኘበት የኢፌዴሪ የጤና ሚኒስትር ዶክተር ሊያ ታደሰ ገለፁ።

ሚኒስትሯ በአጠቃላይ በኢትዮጵያ የኮሮና ቫይረስ የተገኘባቸው ሰዎች ቁጥር 123 መድረሱን በፌስቡክ ገፀቸው ላይ አስታውቀዋል።

 

The Ministry of Mines and petroleum signed gas commercialization agreement with Chinese firm- Poly GCL Petroleum Investment Ltd, to develop the Ogaden basin’s Calub, Hilala and Shibola gas reserves.

The agreement aimed to utilize natural gas of the area for different purposes and commercialize 4 trillion cubic feet gas to be extracted from the Ogaden reserve sites.

The agreement prioritizes consumption of the natural gases for domestic purposes, the statement from Ministry of Mines and Petroleum indicated.

According to the statement, the gas product reserved for local market will be used as an input for industries engaged in fertilizers and petrochemicals production.

A study suggests that the Ogaden natural gas project will earn Ethiopia close to $6 billion in the next six years.

A number of foreign companies are engaged in exploration and production of natural gases and minerals in Ethiopia.