Turkey delivers more medical aid to virus-hit Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

Turkey delivered a second batch of medical supplies to Pakistan on Tuesday to support its fight against COVID-19.

The supplies were brought to Karachi on a special Turkish Airlines cargo flight and handed over to Pakistani authorities by Murat Erkol, the acting Turkish consul general in the southern port city, according to a statement.

"Early this morning, medical aid from Turkey, which consists of 108,000 surgical masks and 31,500 sets of protective suits, were delivered to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the fight against COVID-19,” read the statement issued by the Turkish consulate.

Nasarullah Brohi, assistant director of NDMA, a state-run relief coordination agency, received the shipment.

Pakistan, one of the worst-hit countries in South Asia, has reported 301 deaths and over 14,000 COVID-19 cases so far.

Last week, Ankara donated 20,000 masks, 50,000 protective suits, and 100,000 face shields for Pakistani doctors and medical workers.

Turkey has so far delivered aid to at least 57 countries around the globe to help them fight the coronavirus outbreak that killed more than 211,300 people across the glob so far.

Around 3.05 million people in 185 countries and regions have been infected by the virus since it emerged in China last December, with Europe and the US the world’s hardest-hit areas.

A majority of people – over 896,000 – have recovered from COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.