China dispatches medical aid to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — China sent a plane loaded with medical personnel and supplies Saturday to help Pakistan fight the spread of the coronavirus in one of the world’s most populous nations.
Across the Middle East and elsewhere, the outbreak has raised concerns that health systems strapped by multiple wars, refugee crises and unstable economies won’t be able to handle the growing number of cases.
In Iran, which is battling the worst outbreak in the region, state TV said Saturday another 139 people had died from the virus. That pushed the total fatalities in Iran to 2,517 amid 35,408 confirmed cases.
China has sought to portray itself as a global leader in the fight against the outbreak, which began a few months ago in its Wuhan province. The plane carrying aid to Pakistan was met at the capital’s airport by Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureishi.
China had previously sent ventilators and masks to Pakistan, a key link in China’s ambitious multibilliondollar One Road Project linking South and Central Asia with China. China is also a key military supplier for nuclear-armed Pakistan, having supplied the country with missiles capable of carrying atomic weapons.
Pakistan, with a population of 220 million, has 1,408 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 11 deaths from the illness it causes, COVID-19. Most of the infected people have been travelers returning from neighboring Iran.
Pakistan has closed its borders with both Iran and Afghanistan, but has come under criticism for its initial lax response to the virus.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose a countrywide lockdown, saying it would devastate the country’s poor, but ordered nonessential businesses closed, including restaurants, money changers and wedding halls.