China ready to organize emergency supplies of medicines to Russia

Yi

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that his country was ready to organize emergency supplies of medicines to Russia to tackle the novel coronavirus, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"As a sign of gratitude for Russia’s support, we are ready to actively work on the issue of offering aid in return, in the form of supplies of goods for your country’s emergency needs," the foreign ministry quoted Wang Yi as saying in a phone conversation with Lavrov.

According to the Chinese foreign minister, Beijing is interested in stepping up cooperation with Moscow to tackle the coronavirus infection. He said that this task required a team effort from the international community.

The Chinese top diplomat also thanked Russia for supporting China when the coronavirus outbreak in the country was at its peak.

The coronavirus outbreak, which began in late 2019 in China, has spread to over 140 countries and the WHO recognized it as a global pandemic. According to latest reports, more than 200,000 people contracted the disease worldwide, and more than 8,000 of them died. Russia has registered 147 infection cases so far.

In China, about 80,900 people contracted the coronavirus infection since the start of the outbreak, over 3,200 of them died. Some 70,400 passengers have recovered. About 6,900 infected persons remain in hospitals in the central Chinese province of Hubei, where the disease broke out.

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