It is planned to transfer non-military medical equipment and supplies to the Republic.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper authorized U.S. military assistance to Italy to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. This was reported on Monday by the press service of the Pentagon.
According to her, Esper approved “humanitarian support to the Italian Republic”. The Pentagon, coordinating with the U.S. Department of State, plans to transfer non-military medical equipment and supplies to Italy, the press service said. In addition, the document says, the U.S. Defense Department does not rule out the allocation of “military personnel to support civilian humanitarian operations,” the provision of telemedical services to Italian hospitals and treatment of patients on the Apennines, who are not infected with the new coronavirus. Assistance will be provided “until June 5 or until Italy no longer needs such support,” the Pentagon added.
Earlier Russia began to render the help to Italy in connection with pandemic. According to the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian military doctors, epidemiologists and specialists of the troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection together with the Italian military carried out complete disinfection of boarding houses for elderly people in more than 63 settlements of the Lombardy region. A total of 71 buildings and structures and over 600,000 square metres of interior space have been treated.
On March 22-25, 15 airplanes arrived in Italy and brought to the country about 100 Russian military virologists and specialists of the Ministry of Defense in the field of epidemiology, eight medical and nursing teams, as well as equipment for diagnosis and disinfection measures. Russian specialists work in one of the areas most affected by the pandemic in northern Italy – in the city of Bergamo and its environs. In Italy, according to the latest data, more than 181 thousand cases of infection have been registered, more than 48.8 thousand people were cured. The number of deaths has exceeded 24,000.
The outbreak of the disease caused by the new coronavirus was recorded at the end of 2019 in Central China and subsequently spread to most countries. On 11 March, it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. According to the latest data, more than 2.3 million people were infected in the world and about 160 thousand deaths were recorded.