Bai Tian presents 20,000 masks to Hamzah

Gesture of gratitude: Bai Tian (right) receiving a token of appreciation from Hamzah at the Home Ministry office in Putrajaya. Looking on is Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Mohamed Said.

PUTRAJAYA: Twenty thousand face masks from China have been handed over to the Home Ministry.

China’s ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian, personally presented the masks to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin at his office here yesterday.

Hamzah thanked Bai Tian for the masks and described the gesture as “meaningful”, and said the gift mirrored the close diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Several thousand of enforcement officers under the Home Ministry such as police and others involved in essential services are involved in the movement control order (MCO), as well as the extended MCO.

On March 28, Wisma Putra announced that a consignment from China, which included 100,008 units of polymerase chain reaction test kits, 100,000 pieces of N95 masks, 500,000 pieces of surgical masks, 50,000 units of personal protective equipment and 200 ventilators, was handed over to Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein by Bai Tian.

In a statement, the Chinese ambassador said the consignment was a gift to Malaysia in recognition of the very close relations between the two nations.

He added that it was a goodwill gesture in return for the valuable assistance that Malaysia had extended during the initial phase of the Covid-19 outbreak in China.

Several Chinese companies have also sent thousands of face masks in Malaysia over the past week to help the fight against Covid-19.