China offers Caribbean vaccine loan

China has offered Latin America and the Caribbean a US$1 billion loan for covid19 vaccine access.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the announcement at a virtual gathering of Foreign Affairs ministers from the region, including Trinidad and Tobago, a release from the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday. Mexico and China jointly hosted the meeting.

The release said the meeting was “aimed to consolidate international co-operation against covid19 and jointly face the challenges derived from the pandemic.”

The virtual meeting on Wednesday was led by Mexico's Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, and Wang Yi. Their counterparts from Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay also joined.

Wang, the statement added, stressed that the vaccine developed in his country will be a public good of universal access, and that his country will designate a loan of US$1 billion to support access to the vaccine for the nations of the region.

Covid19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is thought to have originated in China, with the first cases recorded in the Wuhan province late last year. The WHO officially declared it a global pandemic in March.
Trinidad and Tobago has recorded 141 confirmed cases, with 127 recoveries and eight covid19-related deaths.

There are an estimated 15.5 million confirmed cases around the world, led by the US and followed by Brazil.