WASHINGTON, March 31. /TASS/. Russia has sent a plane with medical equipment to the United States amid the pandemic of COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus), US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday.
"I have to say, we’ve had great relationships with a lot of countries. China sent us some stuff," he told reporters during a briefing at the White House. "Russia sent us a very, very large plane load of things. Medical equipment. Very nice."
He did not go into further details about Russia’s aid.
"Other countries sent us things that I was very surprised at, very happy surprised," the US leader continued.
The Johns Hopkins University, which calculates statistics based on the government, WHO and other official source numbers, the US has more than 160,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, while over 2,900 people died from it.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 160 countries, including Russia.
The WHO on March 11 declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. As of now, more than 720,000 people have been infected around the world and over 35,000 have died.
As of March 30, a total of 1,836 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia. Sixty-six patients have recovered. According to data as of 12:00 Moscow time, nine patients died. Later in the day, coronavirus-associated deaths were reported from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Vladimir region. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (1,226). The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public informed about the coronavirus situation.