China and Cuba have sent dozens of medical workers and tonnes of supplies to Italy to help it cope with the coronavirus pandemic
MOSCOW/BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2020) China and Cuba have sent dozens of medical workers and tonnes of supplies to Italy to help it cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Chinese government has decided to assist Italy in the fight against the coronavirus infection by sending a third team of experts," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said.
The team comprises 14 medical workers who specialize in treating respiratory and infectious diseases as well as in traditional Chinese medicine, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
The plane has already left for Italy, Geng told reporters. It is carrying eight tonnes of humanitarian aid, including 30 ventilators, 3,000 protection suits and 300,000 medical masks.
Separately, Cuba has sent 52 doctors and nurses to Italy's worst-hit northern region of Lombardy, the Cuban ambassador to Russia said at a press briefing in Moscow.
"Cuba has sent an emergency team to Italy for the first time" Gerardo Penalver Portal told reporters.
The Caribbean island nation previously dispatched medical experts to Jamaica, Nicaragua, Suriname, Grenada and Venezuela.
Italy has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassing China, where the infection was first detected, as the country with the most coronavirus-related deaths, which stood at 6,820 as of Tuesday. The number of active cases has topped 54,000.
