Emirates sends medical aid to Iraq and Perú to support its fight against COVID-19

The supplies sent will help approximately 10,500 Iraqi and Peruvian health professionals in their work to contain the virus, the UAE news agency WAM has reported.

Mohamad Saleh Altenaiji, Chargé d'Affaires at the UAE Embassy in Baghdad, said: "The UAE has helped support our Iraqi brothers over the years and continues to provide all possible support in all areas, particularly in the economic and development fields. The UAE is concerned with protecting and preserving Iraq's cultural heritage from the terrorist threats that have sought to destroy and maim it". "As a continuation of these efforts, the wise leaders of the UAE sent a medical relief plane to support the efforts of health workers to deal with COVID-19, which is in addition to the recent medical assistance sent to the Kurdistan region of Iraq," he added.

Several Iraqi officials also praised the health aid sent by the Gulf country. Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Dr Osama Al Rifa'i, head of the Arab Department at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, welcomed the aid plane at Baghdad International Airport, noting that "the generous gesture made by the UAE reflects the depth of the historical and fraternal relations that unite the two countries and the UAE's commitment to strengthening the efforts made by Iraqis to survive the crisis. "The people and government of Iraq will continue to be grateful to the UAE for its commitment to deliver medical aid to Iraq in the difficult circumstances that the world is going through," added Al Rifa'i. Similarly, officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment and other state departments welcomed the UAE plane.

Aid shipment to Peru 

Medical supplies will arrive at a city on a bend in the Amazon River. The first flight of an Etihad plane between Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Lima in Peru took place this Thursday, June 25. 
The aircraft was carrying 50 tons of humanitarian aid on board for the South American capital. Later, by land, the cargo will continue to its final destination: Iquitos, a city of 400,000 inhabitants located at a bend in the Amazon River, in the middle of the Amazon jungle. The plane is carrying materials to contain the spread of the pandemic, which has its new global epicenter in South America. 
Masks, gloves, medical oxygen and food will be sorted by the local church: some will be used for health and educational facilities; the rest will be distributed to families in the area.
 

To date, the UAE has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by providing more than 974 metric tonnes of aid to 68 countries, supporting more than 974,000 medical professionals in the process.