The Italian government has shuttered non-essential business and banned internal travel to try to control the coronavirus outbreak, DW reported. Cuba has sent doctors, while Russia supported Italy with medical supplies to help support the overwhelmed public health system.
Milan Malpensa airport on Sunday received a special aircraft from Cuba: the delegation of 37 Cuban doctors and 15 nurses arrived to offer a helping hand to the overloading Italian healthcare system. Amid the coronavirus crisis, Italian doctors are currently buried under the weight of the outbreak.
Upon arrival, the delegation was greeted by Vice President of the Lombardy region Fabrizio Sala who thanked to the Cuban government for this action that they have taken to help Italians.
The Cuban medical squad arrived in Lombardy, which remains the epicentre of the Italian COVID-19 outbreak. The doctors and nurses will move on to offer a hand in the new hospital that is being built in Bergamo, the province most affected by the pathogen.
To greet his fellow Cubans at the airport came the Cuban Ambassador to Italy Jose Carlos Rodriguez Ruiz. He said that the Cuban professionals are here to work alongside the good doctors and nurses of Italy that have been working everyday day to fight COVID. “We will do it with all the humility, every one together with everything they have,” he stated.
“We are here with a brigade of 52 aid workers, doctors and nurses, who have experience in disaster situations. They have been involved with Ebola in West Africa and some were in involved in other natural disasters such as earthquakes,” said Carlos Ricardo Perez Diaz, one of the leading Cuban doctors in the team of arrivals.
So far, there is no information on how long will the Cubans stay in Italy. The local authorities believe that Cuban delegation can offer help, so they will stay as long as is necessary.
Italy is not the only country that will receive help from the Cuban health authorities. The Ministry of Public Health of Cuba has made it known that they are sending 1,450 medical personnel to 36 countries to help the world fight with the coronavirus outbreak.
As of Monday, Italy remains Europe’s worst-hit country by the COVID-19 outbreak, the country has reported over 59,000 confirmed cases and 5,476 deaths.
