At a hospital in New York (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The US Embassy in Hanoi said on April 8 that the Governments of the USand Vietnam have worked together to expedite the delivery of made-in-Vietnam personalprotective equipment to the US.
The first of two initial shipments ofover 450,000 DuPont protective suits departedHanoi on April 7.
The US Department of Health and HumanServices contracted with FedEx Express to expedite delivery of the suits to theUS Strategic National Stockpile in order to address the urgent need forprotective equipment for frontline providers responding to the COVID-19pandemic in the US.
US Ambassador toVietnam Dan Kritenbrink said, “This shipment will help protect healthcareprofessionals working on the front lines against COVID-19 in the United Statesand demonstrates the strength of the U.S.-Vietnam partnership.”
The US and Vietnamese governments havecooperated extensively in the COVID-19 fight. Since the beginning of this crisis, the US Centers for Disease Controland Prevention (CDC) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)have been collaborating with Vietnamese officials to monitor and respond to theevolving COVID-19 situation.
According to Ambassador Kritenbrink, overthe past 20 years, the US has invested more than 706 million USD in healthassistance for Vietnam, and over the past decade has provided substantialtechnical and financial support to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging andserious infectious diseases.
Most recently, the USAID announced 2.9million USD in additional health assistance to help the Vietnamese governmentto accelerate laboratory systems; strengthen case-finding and event-basedsurveillance; and support technical experts for rapid response, riskcommunication, and infection prevention and control.
Earlier, Vietnam also presented medicalsupplies to many countries to assist with the fight against the COVID-19pandemic.
On April 7, DeputyMinister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung symbolically handed over 550,000made-in-Vietnam anti-bacterial masks as gifts from the Vietnamese Governmentand people to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
In early April, the VietnameseGovernment and people presented medicalequipment worth over 7 billion VND (304,000 USD) as gifts to Laosand Cambodia. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung handed over thegifts, which included specialised protective clothing, medical masks, testingsystems and COVID-19 test kits, at a ceremony on April 3.
In February, Vietnam sent breathingequipment, cleanroom suits, gloves and face masks worth 500,000 USD in total toChina to help the country fight the COVID-19pandemic.
Many agencies andorganisations in Vietnam also donated medical supplies to foreign countries insupport of the anti-epidemic fight./.
VNA
