China donates medical supplies to Philippines to combat COVID-19

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian (R3) hands over medical supplies to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin (L2) at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, the Philippines, on March 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Ke)

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian handed over 100,000 test kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to the Philippine side to help it better fight COVID-19.

MANILA -- The 100,000 COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies, which China donated to the Philippines to help the country fight against the coronavirus pandemic, arrived in Manila on Saturday.

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian handed over the 100,000 test kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

China chartered a cargo flight to bring the medical supplies to the Philippines.

"We firmly believe that with our joint efforts in fighting the virus hand in hand, the China-Philippines relationship will be further deepened and strengthened," Huang said in a speech at the turnover ceremony.

Huang voiced hope that the Philippines will win its fight against the deadly viral disease.

Locsin thanked China for its "tremendous help" amid concerns that the Philippines is running low of supply of COVID-19 test kits.

The Philippines has reported 230 COVID-19 infections so far, including 18 deaths. At least 381 people have pending test results as of Friday, the Department of Health said.

Workers unload 100,000 COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies donated by China to the Philippines to help the country fight COVID-19 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, the Philippines, on March 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Ke)

Locsin lauded China for being a global model in the fight against COVID-19.

"(China) is a model for what the rest of the world should be doing. Instead of blaming each other for what's happening, we should all start working together to help each other," Locsin told reporters.

"This is how we tackle a common threat to humanity; together we help each other as much as we can," he added.

Specifically, Locsin said the lockdown measure that China imposed at the start of the outbreak was "the right thing" and made "a lot of sense".

More than 58 million people living on the main island of Luzon, including Metro Manila, are subject to a stringent, police-enforced lockdown ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week.