Ukrainian plane to bring five million face masks, two million respirators from China to Czech Republic

Prague, March 19 (CTK) – An Antonov An-124 Ruslan strategic airlift aircraft took off from Kiev at 11:00 to bring 106 tonnes of face masks, respirators and coronavirus testers from China, Czech Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar (for ANO) has tweeted.

In the morning, the first Smartwings aircraft flew for China to take back health material for the Czech Republic. In all, the airlines will send seven aircraft to two Chinese towns.

On Wednesday night, the first aircraft from China with 150,000 rapid testers landed in Prague.

The Ruslan aircraft will fly to the Chinese city Shenzhen. It is scheduled to return to the Czech Republic on Saturday.

“We will bring to you two million N95 respirators, five million face masks, 80,000 protective goggles, 120,000 protective clothes and 50,000 tests, a total of 106,337 kilograms,” the military has said on the Facebook.

Further aircraft with protective devices and health material are also heading to the Czech Republic.

Interior Minister Jan Hamacek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said on Wednesday that the first aircraft of the company China Eastern would land with 1.1 million respirators in Prague on Friday morning.

On Saturday morning, a China Eastern company aircraft will land with over seven million respirators in Prague and An-124 Ruslan with over 100 tonnes of material on Saturday afternoon.

The planes are supposed to land at the airport in Pardubice, east Bohemia.