The Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia has pledged RM1 million (about US$241,000) to the Malaysia Solidarity COVID-19 Fund that was initiated by the Tzu Chi Foundation in the country.
The Catholic Church leaders, together with other religious and civil society groups, endorsed the initiative that aims to address the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
“This is an emergency fund in response to the urgent call for help from our public hospitals and healthcare professionals,” said Father Michael Chua in a statement release over the weekend.
He said the donations will address the shortage of supply of medical equipment “to cope with the high number of critical COVID-19 patients.”
“The [bishops’ conference] has pledged a sum of RM1 million for the above fund,” said the priest, adding that the country’s bishops “would like to urge all the faithful to support this worthy cause by making a donation to this fund.”
On Monday, Malaysia reported 4,611 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 701,019, the country’s health ministry said. The ministry said there were 69 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 4,477.
As of Sunday, some 4.2 million people or 12.9 percent of the total population have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines.
