Finland brings home anti-epidemic supplies purchased from China

A large shipment of healthcare materials ordered from China arrived at the Helsinki Vantaa Airport on Tuesday afternoon, which would help Finland cope with the COVID-19 epidemic.

Tomi Lounema, CEO of Finnish National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA), said on Twitter that the shipment includes two million surgical masks and 230,000 respirators.

The purpose of importing the batch of materials is to replenish the supply of NESA. The cargo plane, filled with surgeon's masks and respirators, arrived in Helsinki from Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province, reported Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat.

"We make every effort to ensure the adequacy and availability of protective equipment, in order to protect healthcare personnel," Finnish Minister of Social Affairs and Health Aino-Kaisa Pekonen said social media.

Lounema told Ilta-Samonat that more protective materials have already been ordered and will be expected to arrive in Finland in the next few days. According to NESA, there will be 12 medical freight flights from China to Finland.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Finland has confirmed 2,308 infections of COVID-19, of which 34 patients have died and 83 in intensive care, according to Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare.