A cargo train with 45 compartments of anti-epidemic supplies left Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, and headed for Italy’s Milan Wednesday, said Xinhua on Thursday. The shipment includes 368,300 masks and 94.9 tonnes of melt-blown non-woven fabric, an essential material for manufacturing medical masks.
Italy has seen an increase in COVID-19 contagion in recent weeks, with the number of new cases registered each day going from around 200-300 to 400-500, reported Ansa news agency.
Agostino Miozzo, the coordinator of the CTS panel of experts advising the government on the coronavirus emergency, on Thursday warned that local lockdowns “may become inevitable if the situation gets out of hand.”
The China-Europe freight train service has played a crucial role in helping stabilize the international logistics supply chain, especially in transporting epidemic prevention supplies since the outbreak of COVID-19. By the end of July, anti-epidemic supplies amounting to 4.97 million items and weighing 39,000 tonnes were transported through the freight trains./argumentum.al