The Israeli ambassador to Vietnam, Nadav Eshcar, gave the Vietnamese foreign ministry medical equipment on Friday to help Vietnam battle the severe COVID-19 wave that is spreading through the country.
The equipment, which included ten ventilators for a new field hospital set up in Hanoi to care for COVID patients, was given to the Vietnamese deputy foreign minister in a ceremony that included representatives from the Israeli Health Ministry.
In the next few days, the Israeli company Poli Film is expected to donate 10,000 medical masks, 20 oxygen tanks and anti-viral plastic sheets to a central hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Additionally, they will also donate covers for ATMs to be placed in Vietnam's central cities.
Vietnam was able to halt the spread of the virus for a couple of months, but the Delta variant entered the country in May and has spread widely as it has done in Israel.
The deputy foreign minister thanked Israel for the assistance and said that it reflects the strengthening friendship between Israel and Vietnam. In response, Eshcar expressed hope that cooperative efforts between Israel, Vietnam and the rest of the world's countries can stop the pandemic entirely.
Prime Minster Naftali Bennett and Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh spoke over the phone in July. One of the matters discussed in the conversation was the medical assistance that was supplied on Friday.