The Czech Republic will donate 700,000 face masks, 100,000 protective gloves, protective suits, and 55 lung ventilators to Moldova and Peru to fight the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, the humanitarian aid will not affect the availability of protective equipment or lung ventilators in the Czech Republic.
To Moldova, Czechia will send 300,000 face masks, 100,000 protective gloves, 5,000 protective suits, and 55 lung ventilators, which were part of a Dutch aid that Czechia received in the autumn. At that time, 105 lung ventilators arrived from the Netherlands.
“Moldova has been hit by both a pandemic and an extreme drought, the worst in 20 years. The country is in danger of a deep economic recession, and the effects of the pandemic are exacerbated by an outdated healthcare system,” said Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the donation is worth 35 million korunas (€1.36 million).
Already in November, the Czech Republic donated face masks, protective shields, gloves, protective suits, and disinfection equipment worth 3.2 million korunas (€124,545) to Moldova. Czech companies then supplied the country with emergency hospital beds and systems that, among other things, facilitate the connection of patients to artificial lung ventilation. This aid was worth another 10 million korunas (€389,119).
At the request of the Peruvian government, Czechia will provide the country with 400,000 face masks worth 4 million korunas (€155,686).
“Besides coronavirus, the country also has to deal with millions of refugees from neighboring Venezuela, which is going through a humanitarian crisis. People do not even have basic food there, and therefore they are fleeing to Peru,” explained Petříček.
Czechia has already provided aid to Peru as, in August, it bought protective equipment, COVID-19 tests, and food packages for Peru worth 3.5 million korunas (€136,200). In November, the Czech Republic contributed another 330,000 korunas (€12,840) on the construction of a playground in a slum in Lima, the ministry added.
In the autumn, Austria, Hungary, Germany, and the Netherlands, lent or donated lung ventilators to the Czech Republic. Additional devices also arrived from stocks of NATO and the European Union. On the other hand, at that time, the Czech Republic sent protective equipment to Ukraine, Belarus, Kosovo, Montenegro, Armenia, and France.
Title image: Czech Minister of the Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček (Tomáš Petříček / Facebook)
