Scaling up country preparedness to prevent imminent risk of importation, isolate and contain imported cases and prevent local spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Sudan To date, as of 07 March 2020 (16:00hrs), a total of 103,204 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 3,507 associated deaths (Case Fatality Ratio = 3.4%) reported from 95 countries around the globe. Fifteen countries in EMRO reported COVID-19 cases of which Sudan has a direct flight to and from six of these countries (Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar) posing significant risk of importation. On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the new corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)”. This decision was made mainly to prevent spread of the virus in countries with weakest health systems so that countries could be prepared for active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and mitigation of onward spread of COVID-19 infection. The risk of importation and further spread of COVID-19 in any given country is dependent on the national capacity to prepare and respond to the outbreak. In an internal classification, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) rated Sudan, Djibouti and Jordan as at risk for COVID-19 spread based on risk profile and capacity of the country to respond to a potential outbreak. The initial joint assessments of WHO and State Ministry of Health (SMOH) showed important gaps in disease surveillance at point of entry and state-level, lack of isolation and appropriate treatment facilities, gaps in equipment, medicines and medical supplies as much as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) material and low capacities of health staff to detect and  manage cases, low capacities to communicate risks and advises to the population and a lack of capacities to coordinate the response between the central level and the states through Emergency Operation Centers (EOC). The needs for a response to such sudden on-set and rapidly spreading disease outbreak is time-critical as the current country capacities to detect and respond to the threat are insufficient. The project primarly target older people and people with  underlying illness and health worker that are at greater risk of infection and developing sever manifestation of COVID-19. Therefore, this project aims at prioritizing eight out of 15 official Point of Entries (PoEs) (airports, seas port and ground crossings) and five closest hospitals in five States in Sudan to urgently put in place advanced level of preparedness and response capacity to save-lives based on the risk of arrivals exposed to the virus. Specifically, the project builds national capacity to detect, confirm and manage COVID-19 cases through strengthening the surveillance, laboratory, and case management capacities. This includes provision of infection prevention and control materials for health structures and points of entry provision of medical equipment, medicines and materials in order to establish isolation units and strengthen capacities of patient care in prioritized areas and, support measures that prevent acquiring and further spread of the virus through effective risk communication on critical risk and event information to all communities, and counter misinformation. The interventions complement ongoing preparedness measures put in place by WHO, FMOH and other actors. The proposed activities will be coordinated through the national and state-level cluster and inter-cluster meetings, Task Forces, Technical Committees and Emergency Operating Center under FMOH/SMOH leadership. The project complements ongoing support for COVID-19 preparedness by FMOH, WHO and other partners to avoid duplication of efforts in the country.