Covid-19: Trump pledges support to Kenya in call with Uhuru
US President Donald Trump on Friday spoke to President Uhuru Kenyatta and South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa and pledged his country’s support for their respective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Media reports including the BBC said the US leader held telephone conversations with the two African leaders about their responses to the coronavirus pandemic
The South African president is also the current chairperson of the African Union (AU) and he is leading Africa’s most impacted country and the continent’s effort to get international support to fight the pandemic.
Kenya’s coronavirus statistics as of April 24 stood at 336 cases, 95 recoveries and 14 deaths, while on the other hand, South Africa’s coronavirus statistics stood at 3,953 confirmed cases, 1,473 recoveries and 75 deaths.
President Trump, according to BBC, offered assistance to Kenya’s response to coronavirus and agreed to remain in close communication with President Kenyatta.
In the US, according to Health officials at Johns Hopkins University, the country has reported more than 3,300 new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, one of the deadliest days since the outbreak began.
The total number of deaths in the United States stands at 50,031, according to data, while the number of confirmed cases are 870,468.
Trump also offered assistance to South Africa to support its efforts to battle the pandemic and said that the US stands with the people of South Africa in the battle against the pandemic, according to a readout of their conversation.
Read-outs of the call between President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Donald Trump today. Just got the White House version… putting them side by side. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/ffsINbmLYQ
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) April 23, 2020
State House, Nairobi was yet to publicise the conversation by press time.
On Friday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said the government was importing equipment from the US, which was on the way to the country.
On Sunday, US Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter claimed that Kenya would not be able to test for coronavirus without help from America.
His comments came during an exchange with Kenyans on social media after he renamed Covid-19 to Wuhan flu which did not sit well with citizens.