COVID-19: Pakistan sends medical supplies to United States

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has gifted personal protective equipment (PPE) to the United States (US) to show solidarity in fight against coronavirus, ARY News reported on Friday.

As per details,  the equipment was transported to the US via Pakistan Air Forces C-130 plane. The plane landed at the Andrews Air Base in Washington DC, last night.

The PPE including surgical masks and protective suits was received by Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense and other US staff.

Pakistan ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan and other staff of Pakistan embassy was also present at the airport.

It may be noted that the global infections from the novel coronavirus passed five million on Thursday as the pandemic played out unevenly across the planet, with China eager to declare a victory, Europe tentatively emerging from its shell and deaths still rising in hotspots in Latin America.

The grim milestone comes after known cases of COVID-19 doubled in just one month, according to AFP data collected from official sources, with the death toll now topping 328,000 worldwide.

Read more: New York’s new coronavirus cases fall to pre-crisis levels

While many hard-hit European countries have significantly turned the tide on new infections and fatalities, Latin America is in the grip of an infection surge.

Brazil is leading the pack, logging the third-highest number of cases in the world after the US and Russia.

Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections, with nurses in Lima warning that the health system is on the brink of collapse after cases and deaths tripled over the past three weeks.

“Inside it seems like a cemetery given all the bodies. Patients are dying in their chairs (or) in their wheelchairs.”

And like US President Donald Trump, he has promoted the use of anti-malaria drugs against the virus despite studies showing they have no benefit and could have dangerous side effects.