Singapore has sent medical supplies to Brunei that can allow doctors there to detect and contain the coronavirus epidemic.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday (March 25) that the federal government had made available diagnostic kits that may perform 3,000 tests and a polymerase chain response machine to check for Covid-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus.
The Foreign Ministry said the offer was made during a telephone conversation between Singapore’s Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Brunei’s Health Minister Haji Mohammad Isham Haji Jaafar.
The supplies were handed over to Brunei by Singapore High Commissioner Lim Hong Huai and Datuk Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham on the Brunei Ministry of Health on Wednesday morning.
“Singapore will proceed to cooperate with Brunei to combat and limit the spread of Covid-19 in our countries,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
Singapore has previously sent medical supplies to the Philippines on Tuesday (March 24), to Burma on March 4 and to China on February 19 and eight.
“Successfully containing Covid-19 would require cooperation and mutual assistance from countries within the region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
For the March 4 dispatch, Singapore’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Ms. Vanessa Chan, handed over to Myanmar National Health Laboratory Director Htay Htay Tin at Yangon International Airport.
As a part of a February 19 cable, Singapore’s ambassador to China, Lui Tuck Yew, handed over the country’s humanitarian assistance to the deputy head of the Department of Medical Services of the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Zhang Fu, in Beijing.
On February 8, the Singapore government sent humanitarian aid to Wuhan.
Source : Times of the Strait
