China-backed AIIB approves $100 mln loan to Uzbekistan to fight COVID-19

Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said on Tuesday it would lend $100 million to Uzbekistan to help the country deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and future public health disasters.

The project will be co-financed by the Asian Development Bank and aims to increase capacity for testing, surveillance and treatment of COVID-19 and other outbreaks, according to a statement by the AIIB.

The loan is part of AIIB's $13 billion funding facility to help public and private sectors fight the pandemic. (Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.)