BUDAPEST, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A new shipment from China, carrying supplies purchased by the Hungarian government to battle the novel coronavirus, arrived at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport on Tuesday.
"The latest shipment has just arrived. More than 3 million masks, 100,000 test kits, 86 ventilators from China," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on his social media account, followed by a video showing him receiving the goods and greeting the Chinese crew.
"Thank you all. This is impressive. We really appreciated it," he said, after greeting everyone with elbow-bumps instead of the traditional handshakes.
"Almost 70 tonnes of medical and health protective equipment was delivered to Budapest on Tuesday, arriving early in the morning," the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) said later in a statement.
According to the statement, the charter flight, operated by the Chinese cargo airlines Suparna, took off from Shenzhen, southern China, on Monday afternoon after three days of preparations, including the weekend.
Besides Orban, the Boeing 747 was received by Laszlo Palkovics, Hungarian Minister for Innovation and Technology and Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong at the airport.
The fully loaded aircraft also brought 100,000 protective clothing and 100,000 pairs of gloves to Hungary.
The rapid delivery was made possible by close cooperation between the Hungarian and Chinese governments, organizations and companies, ITM said in the statement, adding that further shipments of medical and protective equipment coming from China would follow in the near future.
Earlier on Monday, a shipment of protective equipment for medical personnel ordered from Shanghai by the Hungarian government arrived in Budapest. It had brought 30,050 protective suits and 82,000 medical masks for Hungary.
According to official statistics, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hungary stood at 187 as of Tuesday, with 21 reported recoveries and nine fatalities.
