BANGKOK — The Chinese authorities will deliver medical supplies including test kits and face masks to Thailand in an effort to fight the coronavirus epidemic, the Chinese embassy said on Thursday.
Apart from sending the equipment and medical protective garments, the Chinese government will also coordinate Chinese companies to export medicines for the treatment for the coronavirus in Thailand, the embassy said in a statement.
“Relevant Chinese companies will be mobilized to make targeted export of medical materials to Thailand, in a bid to satisfy Thailand’s needs,” the embassy said. “Chinese enterprises in Thailand and friendly Chinese civil societies are also actively donating medical supplies to Thailand.”
It added that chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok also recently met with health minister Anutin Charnvirakul and discussed possible measures to stop the epidemic in the kingdom.
“In fact, China has already provided a batch of support to the Thai side,” the embassy said. “The Chinese medical expert team, led by the top COVID-19 expert Mr. Zhong Nanshan, has been keeping close contact with the Thai expert team on clinical treatment.”
His Majesty the King also previously donated medical supplies to China, the embassy noted.
The news came as officials in China’s Wuhan reported no new domestic infection in the city for the first time since the pandemic broke out there in December.
Speaking at a news conference today, health minister Anutin said he had telephone conversation with Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, who helped coordinate the imports of medical supplies from China.
“We are buying masks in the millions right now. The same goes to medicines. If there are hundreds of thousands or millions of them, we’ll buy them all,” Anutin said. “We want to stock them up as much as possible.”
