In a video message posted today on the social network Twitter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she had spoken to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who assured him “that China is ready to provide 200,000 N95 masks, two million surgical masks and 50,000 diagnostic tests ”to the EU.

“China has not forgotten that in January, when China was the epicenter of the outbreak, the EU helped. We donated more than 50 tons of medical equipment ”, recalls the official.

And he adds: "Today we are the epicenter of the pandemic and we are the ones who need protective equipment".

Ursula von der Leyen guarantees that the EU is "accelerating its production and converting some production lines", but admits that this "should take a few weeks".

"In the meantime, we are grateful for the support coming from China", emphasizes the leader of the community executive, adding that such equipment will be "shipped quickly to the EU".

The new coronavirus, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, has infected more than 200,000 people worldwide, of whom more than 8,200 have died.

Of the infected people, more than 82,500 have recovered from the disease.

China recorded 11 deaths and 13 new cases of infection by Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, but only one is from Wuhan, all the other 12 are imported.

The outbreak began in China in December and has already spread to 170 countries and territories, which has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic situation.

In total, since the outbreak began last December, authorities in mainland China, which excludes Macau and Hong Kong, accounted for 80,894 diagnosed infections, including 69,601 cases that have recovered, while the total death toll stood at 3,237.

The number of active infected people in the country stood at 8,056, including 2,622 in serious condition.

Wuhan, quarantined since January 23, is the region most affected in the world by the disease, with 2,490 deaths.

The countries most affected after China are Italy, with 2,503 deaths to 31,506 cases, Iran, with 1,135 deaths (17,350 cases), Spain, with 558 deaths (13,716 cases) and France with 175 deaths (7,730 cases).

In Portugal, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) increased the number of confirmed cases of infection to 642 on Wednesday, 194 more than on Tuesday. The death toll in the country has risen to two.

In view of the pandemic's progress, several countries have adopted exceptional measures, including the quarantine regime and border closure.