MANILA, Philippines — The City of Tainan in Taiwan has donated assorted personal protective equipment (PPEs) that may be used by frontliners in Cavite City, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines said.
In a statement on Friday, TECO said that they handed Tainan City’s donations of 1,000 pieces of goggles and 500 pieces of face shields to help Cavite City’s COVID-19 response.
Cavite and Tainan have been sister cities for some time now.
Aside from that, two Taiwan association groups have also made donations, including 10,000 pieces of medical-grade face masks — both of which were personally received by Cavite Mayor Bernardo Paredes.
“Deputy Representative Joy Yen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines donated, on behalf of the Tainan City Government, 1,000 pieces of goggles and 500 pieces of face shields to Cavite City,” TECO said in a statement.
“The Philippines Cavite Taiwan Association and the Taiwanese Compatriot Association in the Philippines also donated 10,000 pieces of medical masks, respectively,” it added.
This is not the first time an organization from Taiwan or with ties to the Philippines’ northern neighbor has given donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Different PPEs have been given to several institutions in the Philippines — from hospitals nationwide to the police force , the members of the press, and the national government.
Taiwan has been one of the countries hailed as a model in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, topping 91 other countries in terms of being able to suppress COVID-19 transmissions.
Just this October 31, crowds were allowed to celebrate the Pride March as Taiwan has not registered a single COVID-19 case in more than 200 days.
In contrast, the Philippines’ case count is still growing, with 34,374 out of the 391,809 total confirmed COVID-19 patients still considered as active cases. Meanwhile, 52 new deaths in the country due to the virus as of Friday leads to a death toll of 7,461.