Han Ximin ximhan@126.com THE city will donate more medical materials, including masks, protective suits and disinfectant, to sister cities in 16 countries, including South Korea, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Argentina, to help them fight COVID-19, Shenzhen Foreign Affairs Office said at a news conference Saturday. The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 300,000 as of Saturday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. Outside China, countries that have reported over 10,000 cases include Italy, Spain, the United States, Germany, Iran and France. More than 180 countries and regions have reported COVID-19 cases so far. On Wednesday, Shenzhen delivered 300,000 medical masks, thousands of nucleic acid test kits and protective clothing in different batches to eight sister and friendly exchange cities in four countries. “Beside donations, the support also includes sharing information on China’s measures in virus control and prevention, providing procurement channels and convenience in procurement, and technological support,” said Sun Huaizhong, deputy director with the foreign affairs office. A total of 20,000 test kits made by Shenzhen-based BGI Group, a leading life science and genomics organization, have been donated to 11 countries, including Japan, Angola, Peru, Serbia, the Philippines, Benin, Argentina, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, Zhu Yanmei, secretary general with Shenzhen Mammoth Foundation. Zhu, also an executive director of BGI, said the company could produce 600,000 test kits a day and it had received 800,000 orders from 60 countries and regions. In a television speech Thursday after receiving 150,000 test kits from Shenzhen, Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic, thanked China for supporting his country’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak. Also on Thursday, Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse lauded BGI for donating some 1,000 test kits to the country, which has so far confirmed six COVID-19 cases.
Local Daily Report on COVID-19 Infections New: 3 Total: 433 Recovered: 409 Death toll: 3 | 