TIRANA – North Macedonia will be supplied with health care equipment by Turkey to support its fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said Monday as quoted by Daily Sabah.
Mr. Dimitrov announced that North Macedonia had requested assistance from Turkey during a joint press conference following his meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Skopje on April 6, 2020.
“We received information about President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s cabinet meeting late last night and their offer of assistance that includes masks, protection wears and test kits will be announced today,” he stated.
Responding to an e-mail question about which countries North Macedonia has requested support from in order to fight COVID-19, Dimitrov said the European Union provided 4 million euros ($4.3 million) worth of assistance, Norway and China declared they will provide support and the Netherlands will send test kits. He added that they also requested help from Turkey.
Szijjarto said Hungary provided 100,000 masks and 5,000 protective garments to North Macedonia to support the health care system in the fight against the pandemic. The Hungarian FM also criticized the EU by saying that the coordination among bloc’s members is very slow and they have left each other alone in this fight.
As of Sunday, North Macedonia announced a total of 18 deaths, 555 confirmed infections and 23 recoveries.
After originating in China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has spread to at least 183 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe.
The pandemic has killed nearly 68,000 people, and infected over 1.2 million, while over 256,000 people recovered from the disease, according to figures collated by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.
As of Monday there have been confirmed 383 infected cases with Covid-19 and the number of fatalities stands at 22 in Albania with the most extended spread of the epidemic in the Capital Tirana followed by Shkodra, northern part of this Balkan country. /argumentum.al