MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. Toyota car maker will provide 45 cars to medical facilities in Moscow and the region to combat coronavirus. The vehicles will be granted for three months, but if necessary, the company is ready to extend this term, the automaker said.
"The company decided to provide 45 Toyota and Lexus cars to medical workers who are daily fighting the spread of the virus. Toyota Motor LLC has reached a general agreement with a number of healthcare institutions under Russia’s Healthcare Ministry to allocate its corporate fleet vehicles to physicians providing medical care to patients who stay in self-isolation in Moscow and the Moscow Region," the company noted.
Toyota noted that the cars will also be used by medical workers for visiting people at home to take tests for coronavirus and promptly delivering these tests to laboratories.
There are crossovers and SUVs among the abovementioned vehicles for medical workers to be able to reach remote regions.
"People’s health and safety is a key priority for Toyota, so we independently took the initiative to support those who are now at the forefront, risking their lives every day, helping others with virtually no sleep or rest," said Toyota President Shuji Suga as quoted by a press release.
As previously reported, Toyota plants in St. Petersburg extended the suspension of production until April 30 in particular due to a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the extension of non-working days until the end of the month.
On April 6, the Russian consumer watchdog’s molecular diagnostics center started offering commercial coronavirus tests, providing an opportunity to conduct the test even if it is not medically recommended. The biomaterial is taken at home in almost contactless manner. The result comes back in one-two days via email. The test is highly specific and sensitive which rules out false positives, the watchdog added.