Coronavirus: China’s Huawei helps provide face masks to Lithuania, where it’s eyed 5G
- Chinese tech giant Huawei joins global effort to fight coronavirus pandemic
- Lithuanian government buys respirators and millions of masks from China
Chinese tech giant Huawei has partnered with other companies to provide 20,000 protective masks and 120,000 pairs of gloves to Lithuania to help the largest Baltic country combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The aid was donated this month by both Huawei and Bite, a major Lithuanian communications company, and was transported free of charge by KlasJet, a charter airline that is part of Lithuanian-owned Avia Solutions Group.
“The shipment was organised in a record-short time in collaboration with our partners in Lithuania and China … It is crucial as Lithuanian medics are short so far of protective single-use gloves and masks. The Lithuanian health ministry will distribute the aid to the most needed,” Mindaugas Plukys, a Huawei spokesman in the Baltics, said.
Similar aid was also being offered to neighbouring Latvia and Estonia, he said.
The quantity of masks is relatively small for Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million people. However the donation shows how a major Chinese tech business and its connections can source much needed protective gear amid a global mask shortage.