DURBAN, September 8. /TASS/. Russia delivered 65 metric tons of critical supplies (personal protective equipment, drugs, medical items, a mobile diagnostics lab and a batch of coronavirus infection diagnostics systems) to BRICS countries during the height of the pandemic as part of a humanitarian aid initiative, Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov said.
"Russia provided humanitarian aid to BRICS countries during the pandemic. Aircraft of the Russian Emergencies Ministry delivered personal protective equipment (23 metric tons) to China, and pharmaceuticals and medical items (42 metric tons) to India. An airplane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry delivered a mobile diagnostics lab and a batch of test systems for coronavirus infection diagnostics to South Africa," the minister said at a meeting of senior disaster management officials from the BRICS countries, being held in Durban, South Africa.
BRICS members teamed up and efficiently solved the task of ensuring the swiftest possible recovery of air and rail service, despite the heavy adverse impact that the coronavirus pandemic had on transportation and logistics, Kurenkov noted. "All of us have lessons learned from the pandemic and our countries face the task of avoiding a repetition of that [scenario] in the future," he stressed.