The recipients of 6 million surgical masks pledged by Taiwan five days earlier for use as personal protective equipment by frontline medical personnel combating coronavirus in America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific were unveiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 14.
According to the MOFA, 1.05 million masks are to be shipped to allies Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as other partner countries in the region, while one million pieces will go to the U.S. states hardest hit by the pandemic.
In addition, 1.3 million masks will be delivered to Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden, with 1.6 million sent to New Southbound Policy target countries Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
The latest pledge follows the April 1 announcement that a total of one million masks would be sent to the Holy See and 14 other allies, two million to the U.S. and seven million to Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K.
Another 400,000 masks have already been delivered to the U.S. as part of an agreement to send 100,000 per week under an epidemic prevention cooperation framework announced March 18 by MOFA Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu and American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen.
The MOFA said the donations reflect the compassion of the government and people, underscoring a commitment to expanding the country’s global participation and showing how Taiwan Can Help realize the World Health Organization’s goal of Health For All. (SFC-E)