Hainan donates 200,000 masks to its sister regions

The phrase "Hainan stands with Hyogo to fight against the epidemic" are put on the boxes of medical supplies that will be sent to Hyogo. [Photo/SSTV News]

South China's Hainan donated 100,000 surgical masks each to Hyogo, Japan and Jeju, South Korea on March 18 to help them fight against the outbreak of novel coronavirus, which is also known as COVID-19.

 "When Hainan was fighting the epidemic not long ago, the governments of Japan and South Korea gave us a lot of trust, help, and support, reflecting that love transcends all national boundaries," according to an official from the Foreign Affairs Office of Hainan Province.

At present, Japan and South Korea are striving to enhance their epidemic prevention and control work, and they are in urgent need of medical masks and other epidemic prevention materials. We are very willing to do our best to support our international friends and stand with them to battle against the epidemic, added the official.

Masks are boxed, piled up, and ready to be shipped to Hyogo and Jeju. [Photo/SSTV News]

Hainan and Japan's Hyogo Prefecture tied their sister region bond in 1990, and Hyogo was Hainan's first sister city region since the establishment of the Hainan Special Economic Zone in 1988.

At the beginning of February this year, Toshizo Ido, governor of Hyogo Prefecture, sent a letter of condolences to Hainan. The Hyogo Prefecture government donated 108,000 masks to support Hainan's epidemic prevention and control efforts. 

Hainan and South Korea's Jeju became sister regions in 1995, and the two have had frequent friendly exchanges. During the fight against the epidemic in Hainan, the Jeju government donated 25,000 medical masks to Hainan and its governor Won Hee-ryong extended his best wishes to Hainan during the virus outbreak through a video message.

Staff workers load the medical supplies into a van. [Photo/SSTV News]