US: Muslim foundation aids health workers amid virus

WASHINGTON

A Chicago-based Muslim aid organization continues to assist U.S. healthcare professionals, as the country faces severe coronavirus crisis.

The Executive Director of the Zakat Foundation of America, Halil Demir told Anadolu Agency the organization has set up a crisis management desk in the first week of the epidemic and established a COVID-19 Emergency Aid Distribution program that prioritized health care workers in the frontline of the battle.

The international aid organization has offices in ten states in the U.S. and operates in 40 countries in the world.

It regularly provides food, hygiene and medical supplies to the healthcare professionals working in hospitals, as well as the families in need.

He added that "the foundation also plans to distribute 150,000 gloves and masks to the hospitals in low-income areas where black people live."

On the pandemic's impact on the U.S., Demir said the country was caught "unprepared" and "couldn't put a successful fight" against the virus.

According to a running tally by the Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has more than 670,000 coronavirus cases and 33,200 deaths as of Friday. Some 56,000 have recovered from the disease.

Overall, the virus has spread to 185 countries, infecting more than 2.1 million patients, and killing more than 147,300 worldwide since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

*Writing by Beyza Binnur Donmez from Ankara