All nine Russian Il-76 (NATO reporting name: Candid) military cargo planes carrying humanitarian assistance have successfully landed in Italy at the Pratica di Mare Air Base near Rome and started unloading their cargo. A video, published by the Russian Defence Ministry running the humanitarian mission, shows Russian servicemen offloading the KAMAZ-based mobile sanitising devices that will help Italy in cleansing dormant COVID-19 from public places, transport, and streets.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio earlier announced that he would be personally greeting the arriving Russian planes along with Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini and Special Commissioner for coronavirus emergency Domenico Arcuri.
The cargo planes also brought much needed personal protection suits for doctors and medical equipment needed for treating COVID-19 infected patients. Apart from that, the Defence Ministry shared that around 100 specialists, doctors, medical personnel, and epidemiologists have also been sent to Italy to help it cope with the outbreak.
The coronavirus pandemic hit Italy hard with over 5,000 new infections reported daily. The European country also reports an abnormally high mortality rate from COVID-19 - around 10% to the 4% average see across the globe. Some 4,827 patients have already died in Italy from the infection, while a total of 7,024 have been cured.