COVID-19: Cristiano Ronaldo donates money for ICU in Porto

Portuguese international footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and businessman Jorge Mendes will make donations to turn a wing of the Santo Antonio Hospital in Porto into intensive care units (ICU), Xinhua news agency quoted Lusa News Agency as saying on Tuesday.

"This unit will allow the opening of 15 intensive care beds, fully equipped with ventilators, monitors and other equipment," the Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Porto (CHUP), where Santo Antonio is located, was quoted as saying.

According to CHUP, as a way of thanking the players, the new wing will be named after these two patrons of the football world.

"The Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Porto thanks Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Mendes for this very useful initiative, at a time when the country needs everyone so much," said Paulo Barbosa, the chairman of the board of directors.

Portugal has recorded 2,362 infected cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths, according to Tuesday's bulletin of the health authorities.

Porto, the economic hub in the northern part of Portugal, is the worst-hit region of the novel coronavirus, with 1,130 confirmed cases, half of the total number registered in the country.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared a state of emergency on March 18, which will last until 23:59 on April 2.

-- BERNAMA