Transport plane arrives with medical supplies

A giant transport An-124 Ruslan plane landed in the Czech Republic late on Saturday loaded with over 100 tons of much needed medical supplies to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The Czech Defence Ministry said the plane flew in from the city of Shenzhen in south-eastern China with over 106 metric tons (117 tons) of the equipment, including 2 million respirators, 5 million face masks, 80,000 protective goggles, 120,000 protective suits and tens of thousands of testers for the virus.

The Czech Republic has 995 cases of the new coronavirus.

The flight was made possible by the Strategic Air Lift International Solution (SALIS) whose goal is to provide to participating NATO allies a capability to transport heavy and outsized cargo.

Two more similar flights with medical equipment to the Czech Republic under the programme, and one more to Slovakia are planned later in March.

Globally, the coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 307,200 people and killed more than 13,000.

For most people, the COVID-19 illness causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.

According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.

More than 92,300 people have recovered so far, mostly in China.