Egypt extends essential help to coronavirus-hit states

Egypt has been
working hard to help countries strongly affected by the coronavirus since the
virus appeared.
So far, Egypt
sent medical supplies to Italy, China and the UK, at a time assistance is
turning into a foreign policy tool.
China
Egyptian
Minister of Health Hala Zayed decided to visit China at the height of
coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in early March. Zayed took
with her a large shipment of medical supplies and needs. She also took with her
a message of solidarity from the Egyptian people and Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi to the Chinese people and government.
Chinese
officials expressed appreciation of the Egyptian support. A plenipotentiary
minister at the Chinese embassy in Cairo said in April that his country would
not forget Egyptian assistance to it.
Italy
Italy too was
battling the disease and badly in need of assistance.
This was why
Egypt sent another shipment of medical supplies to the European country. The
shipment contained essential needs.
In response, the
Italian foreign minister Luigi
Di Maio, who received the shipment at the airport, thanked the Egyptian
government on Facebook.
In early April, Zayed
also visited Italy to hand over another shipment of medical supplies. The
shipment was made of two military cargo planes that carried important medical
needs.
The Egyptian support
came at a very critical time for Italy. This was a time when the coronavirus
infection and mortality rates were very high in the European country.
Other European
countries were busy minding the virus outbreak in them.
Britain and
the United States
On April 14, a
British minister said the Egyptian government was ready to send a shipment of
medical supplies needed in her country.
The shipment came at
a time UK hospitals suffered a shortage of medical equipment.