The US government, through its aid agency USAID, has announced an additional grant of $3 million to help India combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster said the additional funding will further support India’s response to COVID-19.

“This additional funding to support India in its continuing efforts to combat COVID-19 is yet another example of the strong and enduring partnership between the United States and India,” a release issued by the US Embassy here quoted the envoy as saying.

On April 6, the USAID had announced $2.9 million to support India in its fight against the novel Coronavirus.

In a statement, the US embassy had said that this builds on a foundation of more than $1.4 billion in health assistance, and nearly $3 billion in total assistance, that the United States has provided to India over the last 20 years.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of the leading aid agencies globally.

The USAID is providing these funds to the Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity (PAHAL) project, an innovative financing platform, the release said.

To date, USAID has provided $5.9 million to assist India in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

This assistance will help India slow the spread of COVID-19, provide care for the affected, disseminate essential public health messages to communities, and strengthen case finding and surveillance, it said.

“Through the PAHAL project, USAID will support the National Health Authority to establish a financing facility that can mobilize resources from the private sector to assist over 20,000 health facilities enrolled under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), India’s health insurance scheme for 500 million poor and vulnerable people,” the release said.

In the last week of March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an extensive telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier on March 27, the United States had announced $174 million financial assistance to 64 countries including $2.9 million to India to help them combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

This is in addition to the $100 million aid announced by the US in February.

This assistance is part of a larger American global response package across multiple departments and agencies, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The funding is for 64 of the most at-risk countries facing the threat of the global pandemic.