Turkey sends aid to India to fight COVID-19

ANKARA: A Turkish military plane carrying medical supplies to fight COVID-19 left on Tuesday for India's capital New Delhi, Turkey's Defense Ministry announced on Twitter.

The plane was carrying medical supplies, including 630 oxygen tubes, five oxygen generators, 50 ventilators, and 50,000 boxes of tablet medicines prepared by the Turkish Red Crescent and Turkey's Health Ministry, Anadolu Agency reported.

The boxes of aid bore the words of 13th-century poet Mevlana Rumi - "There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness" - plus the message: "With love from Turkey to the people of India."

Ibrahim Altan, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, told reporters that they sent the aid at the orders of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with help from Turkey's Foreign Ministry along with the ministries of health, industry and technology, and defense.

Referring to Turkish-Indian ties dating back well over a century, Altan added: "India sent aid to our country during both the Balkan Wars and the War of Independence and has always stood with us in trying times. Today, we are sending aid to them."

India recorded more than 3,511 fatalities in the last 24 hours as the overall coronavirus death toll reached 307,231, according to data compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

Daily cases fell to 196,427, pushing the country's total to 26.94 million, the data showed.

-- BERNAMA