New York governor thanks Qatar for medical aid to fight coronavirus

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, yesterday thanked Qatar for sending critical supplies and aid via to help the city overcome the coronavirus.

In a tweet, Cuomo said: “Thank you to the government and people of Qatar from the people of New York. We are grateful for your assistance in helping send critical supplies and for the donation of aid.”

Thank you to the government and people of Qatar from the people of New York. We are grateful for your assistance in helping send critical supplies and for the donation of aid.

— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) May 3, 2020

Qatar sent aid to 20 countries, including medical supplies, Foreign Ministry of Qatar said on Friday.

According to Peninsula Qatar, the country’s air force is building field hospitals in friendly countries, including contributing to the work of multilateral health care institutions that are working to develop vaccines or that work to ensure the resilience of health care in other countries and Qatar has already made a contribution of $140 million to these organisations.

Qatar Airways announced it has also been helping countries by flying in critical medical supplies in their cargo aircrafts and also repatriating people to their home countries.

READ: Qatar sends virus aid to Iran, Algeria

Last month, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio thanked Qatar for its assistance in Rome’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, after Doha donated two field hospitals with 500 beds each, the Italian Embassy in Qatar has said.

In the same month, Qatar Charity and the United Nations Children’s Fund also signed two grant agreements totalling $2 million to address the humanitarian needs caused by the spread of the coronavirus in Syria and Jordan.

Qatar, the GCC’s second worst-hit country after Saudi Arabia, reported 679 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total confirmed cases to 15,551, according to the World Health Organisation.