Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/05/2020
By: Chen Yun-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, May 5 (CNA) Taiwan will start a third round of mask donations soon, giving more than 7 million surgical face masks to countries around the world to help with their response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

Of the total 7.07 million masks, 2.28 million will be donated to the United States federal government and American states hardest hit by the pandemic, MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.

Another 1.3 million will be sent to member states of the European Union, 1.09 million to Taiwan's 15 diplomatic allies, and 1.8 million to some of the countries covered in Taiwan's New Southbound Policy, namely, 18 countries in Southeast and South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Ou said.

The remaining 600,000 face masks will be donated to some African and Middle Eastern countries and to frontline medical staff providing assistance to Syrian refugees, she said.

It will be Taiwan's third round of mask donations since April, after it ramped up its mask production to 13 million per day, and then to 17 million by late April.    [FULL  STORY]