Vietnam ships five million medical supplies to Covid -19 struck New York

By Vien Thong May 21, 2020 | 02:30 am PT

Medical protective equipment are transported on the aircraft of Cathay Pacific airline at Tan Son Nhat Airport, HCMC before shipping to the U.S. Photo courtesy of Super Cargo Service.

Five million protective medical supplies were flown from Vietnam to New York to aid the virus-hit city’s pandemic struggle.

Huynh Quoc Dinh, director of Super Cargo Service, a Ho Chi Minh City-based logistics company responsible for transporting the order from Vietnam to New York said Wednesday the medical equipment included protective suits, masks and gloves made by a Vietnamese factory to assist the U.S. Covid-19 fight.

Dinh said in order to meet the shipping deadline in just one week, the company cooperated with Africa's Ethiopian Airlines, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, Taiwan-based Eva Airlines and Philippines Airlines based in the Philippines, to transport the shipment.

The last aircraft to transport the shipments landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York on Wednesday.

New York is the largest Covid-19 hotspot in the U.S. with 352,000 infections and over 22,000 reported deaths.

Since April 17, New Yorkers are required to cover their faces in public while Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier this month announced the city would distribute 5 million three-ply surgical-style face coverings and another 2.5 million nonmedical cloth masks at school grab and go meal sites, grocery stores and other locations.

In early May Bill de Blasio said New York had ordered medical products from a Vietnamese factory to produce a large number of protective suits, CBS News reported.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his gratitude to Vietnam for sending 450,000 protective suits to help frontline healthcare professionals fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United States, now the worst hit nation with more than 1.5 million infections and over 93,000 deaths, is among various countries to have received support from Vietnam in the ongoing global health crisis.