The European Commission announced on 6 April 2020 that a donation of medical supplies from China has arrived in the EU and been delivered to Rome / Italy. A Chinese plane delivered 2m masks, 200,000 “N95” masks and 50,000 testing kits. The donation follows an agreement reached between commission president Ursula von der Leyen and China’s premier Li Keqiang in March.

The EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) coordinated the supplies to be distributed to Italy. Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič noted that China and the EU have been working together since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. During China’s difficult time in controlling Covid-19, the EU assisted the country by sending more than 56 t of emergency supplies, such as protective clothing, disinfectant and masks, in February 2020. These were provided by Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and Slovenia through the “EU Civil Protection Mechanism”, which is part of the ERCC.