The Mastercard Foundation will donate $1.3 billion over the next three years to help fight the covid-19 pandemic and accelerate economic recovery on the African continentannounced this Tuesday the president.

"In partnership with the African Union, the African Union Centre for Disease Control, the Mastercard Foundation is proud to announce the delivery of $1.3 billion over the next three years to save the lives and incomes of millions of people and accelerate the economic recovery of the continent," said its president, Reeta Roy.

In the presentation of the partnership, in digital format, she emphasized that the announced partnership has four priorities: "Procure vaccines for at least 50 million people, support delivery and distribution to many millions more people on the continent, prepare the workforce for vaccine production in Africa, and strengthen the Africa CDC to implement this historic initiative together with African countries," she said.

In her speech, Rita Roy said that this initiative should "unlock the economic potential of the health sector and create jobs and opportunities for thousands of people" and argued that "systemic investments are needed to increase the security and resilience of the sector."

On Monday, Africa recorded 406 more covid-19-associated deaths in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths since the pandemic began to 132,425, and 22,386 new infections, according to the latest official data.

According to the African Union Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the total number of cases on the continent is 4,925,978 and the number of recovered cases is 4,445,872, up 14,932 in the last 24 hours.

Southern Africa remains the most affected region, with 2,124,267 cases and 65,456 deaths associated with covid-19. This region is home to the continent's worst-hit pandemic country, South Africa, which accounts for 1,696,564 cases and 56,974 deaths.