Photos of Belarusian Embassy in China/BelTA
MINSK, 30 January (BelTA) – The aircraft with the Belarusian humanitarian aid on board has landed at the Beijing airport, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Ministry of Defense.
“The aircraft carrying the Belarusian humanitarian aid landed at the Beijing airport at around 11:40 today,” the ministry informed.
The cargo is accompanied by Belarusian rescue workers and First Deputy Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Khudoleyev.
A reminder, on 29 January Belarus sent the humanitarian aid to China to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak. An Ilyushin Il-76MD airlifter with the humanitarian cargo on board took off from the Machulishchi airfield. The aircraft was airborne for 20 hours and had to stop in Novosibirsk and Vladivostok to refuel the aircraft. It will be back in Belarus on 2 February.
The decision to send humanitarian aid was made by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 28 January. All in all, Belarus shipped 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid to China. The cargo was put together based on China’s requests. The cargo includes 4.5 tonnes of antibiotics that are most commonly used to treat complications of a viral infection, over 10 tonnes of disinfecting agents for various uses, personal protective equipment for medical staff (gloves, surgical masks, disposable clothing), air decontamination materials. Belarusian Healthcare Minister Vladimir Karanik believes that this will not be the last cargo.
All the medical products sent to China were made in Belarus. They were loaded into the aircraft ex works. At present the Belarusian side is exploring a number of possibilities to provide the further support to China.
China has a total of nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus as of Thursday. The death tall rose to 170 people.
On 31 December, the Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organization of an outbreak of unusual pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan. On 7 January Chinese doctors identified the infectious agent, the 2019 nCoV coronavirus.
