ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) – Turkey on Wednesday sent health supplies including masks to Italy and Spain, the two European countries worst hit by the novel coronavirus, the defense ministry said.
“Health supplies prepared to fight COVID-19 together, and with the hopes of seeing brighter days were sent en route to Spain and Italy” by a military plane, the ministry tweeted in English.
An accompanying video clip showed a Turkish military A-400M cargo plane preparing to take off.
Health supplies prepared to fight COVID-19 together, and with the hopes of seeing brighter days were sent en route to Spain and Italy by A-400M type planes belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces.https://t.co/o7zcZJ6JEP pic.twitter.com/Fp3GWs5yTH
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) April 1, 2020
The defense ministry posted the same message in Turkish, Spanish and Italian.
The supplies including masks, overalls and anti-bacterial fluids, produced in the defense ministry’s factories and sewing facilities.
Local resources were being sent “on the instructions of President” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the ministry statement.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed over 30,000 people in Europe, more than three-quarters of the deaths registered in Italy and Spain, according to an AFP tally at 0700 GMT Wednesday using official figures.
The most deaths were recorded in Italy, with 12,428 fatalities, followed by Spain with 8,189 and France with 3,523.
Turkey has so far recorded 214 deaths and 13,531 cases.
