Turkey sends medical supplies to Ukraine to fight virus

Turkey sent Friday medical aid supplies to Ukraine to help fight against novel coronavirus outbreak that claimed thousands of lives worldwide.

"Medical aid supplies, prepared at the direction of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for use against the COVID-19 outbreak, have been sent to Ukraine," Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

Turkey also sent supplies to Tunisia earlier in the day.

In a Wednesday statement, the Turkish foreign minister said some two-thirds of the nations of the world have requested medical supplies from Turkey to fight coronavirus, and nearly half of these requests were met.

The countries included the worst-hit ones such as Italy, Spain, and the UK, while Turkey remains the world's third-largest provider of humanitarian aid during the pandemic.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 187 countries and regions. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit regions.

The pandemic has killed nearly 270,000 worldwide, with total infections over 3.86 million, while more than 1.29 million patients have recovered, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.