Taiwan is to donate 7.07 million masks for medical personnel in the nation’s diplomatic allies, the US, Europe, New Southbound Policy countries, as well as nations in Africa and the Middle East, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The government made the decision after ensuring that domestic needs have been met and the recipient nations had said they hoped Taiwan would donate more masks, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing in Taipei.
She said 1.09 million masks would go to the 15 diplomatic allies; 2.28 million would go to the US government and states hit hard by the virus; 1.3 million to the EU headquarters and some member states; 1.8 million to New Southbound Policy partner countries; and 600,000 to some African and Middle Eastern countries as well as medics helping Syrian refugees.
The masks are guaranteed to be medical quality, she added.
The donation would be Taiwan’s third wave of international humanitarian assistance, following the more than 17 million masks dispatched last month, Ou said.
More than 480,000 Taiwanese have donated unused masks — from their ration of nine adult masks or 10 children’s masks per person per 14 days — through a mobile app developed by the National Health Insurance Administration, totaling 3.93 million masks as of yesterday, Ou said.
The number of mask donations might continue to increase, she said, adding that recipients would be determined separately.
The government would negotiate the means of transportation with the recipients, although it would first consider flights operated by EVA Airways and China Airlines, she said.
Taiwan is continuing to expand its anti-pandemic cooperation with the US, Europe and other countries to develop treatments and vaccines for the novel coronavirus, Ou said.
The nation’s daily mask production capacity last month reached 17 million, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said on Tuesday last week.
The number is expected to reach 19 million by the middle of this month, after the government obtained more production lines from the private sector, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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