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Haiti: first shipment of medical equipment ordered from China

2020-05-07T20:30:20.573Z



Haiti received this Thursday the first of five cargo planes to deliver medical equipment ordered in late March to China to fight the coronavirus epidemic, still limited in the country where 12 deaths have so far been recorded.

Read also: Coronavirus in Haiti: experts fear more than 20,000 dead

President Jovenel Moïse, his wife and members of the government's scientific unit traveled to the tarmac at Port-au-Prince airport to witness the unloading of the cargo. The plane left from Shanghai has delivered to Haiti 500 hospital beds, 100 artificial respirators, 250,000 plastic visors, 200.00 surgical masks, 50,000 N95 masks as well as 137,000 protective glasses, detailed the Minister of Health Marie Greta Roy Clément.

Four other air deliveries are planned over the next two weeks to transport all of the 463 tonnes of medical equipment already ordered by Haiti to China, at a total cost of more than 18 million US dollars.

108 cases diagnosed, 12 deaths recorded

With a population of 11.2 million, Haiti is still only at the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic, with a total of 108 officially diagnosed cases and 12 deaths recorded, according to the latest report from the health authorities. published Wednesday. The epidemic could cause the death of more than 20,000 people, according to the worst scenario established by the scientific cell of the government.

To stem the spread of the virus, the government announced that the mask would be compulsory in all public places from Monday, May 11, under penalty of legal sanction. "The number of cases and the number of deaths depend on you, on your behavior," said Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on Thursday, through the cloth mask he wore throughout his ride on the tarmac of the 'airport.

Head of State calls for solidarity

The head of state also called on his fellow citizens for calm and solidarity. “When the earthquake happened, we cried a lot. Cholera arrived , we cried a lot. Cyclone Matthew passed. We cried a lot, but we were in solidarity with each other: it is this same solidarity that I ask you today to have, ” declared Jovenel Moïse. Residents of the capital protested the creation of a dedicated coronavirus medical center in their neighborhood and some of the first people with coronavirus were stigmatized and threatened with physical violence.

The coronavirus epidemic constitutes for Beijing a new opportunity to seduce Haiti, one of the few countries in the world to still officially recognize Taiwan and not to have diplomatic relations with the People's Republic. For its part, Taipei financed the purchase of new ambulances for Haiti and in mid-April donated 180,000 masks.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2020-05-07

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