Coronavirus-hit China to get medical gear from Liberia

A Chinese doctor running a clinic in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, is donating face masks and other protective materials to hospitals in mainland China, where the coronavirus outbreak has claimed more than 1,100 lives.

Dr Zhai Yu, 46, has packed cartons containing 7,000 nose masks and 600 pieces of protective clothing and will be sending them to the affected areas, including the city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak.

When I visited the clinic on Wednesday, she and her staff were loading the equipment into a vehicle for shipment to China.

The doctor said she imported the medical gear six years ago to equip her clinic in the wake of the Ebola outbreak in the West African country, which has poor health services

She is now donating them “because our people in China have suffered too much; they are between life and death.”

“Being Chinese overseas we want to try our best to do something for our homeland,” she said. “It’s our duty. We must do that.”

The doctor, who has been living in Liberia for 12 years, is from Hebei province, near the capital, Beijing. Her immediate family and hometown have so far been unaffected.

Dr Zhai said that she was not worried about the possible spread of the virus to Liberia.