Health package Photo: Xinhua

 
Nearly 60,000 “health packages” have been stuck in ports for over a month, as relevant US authorities were deliberately delaying the approval procedure, a source familiar with the matter told the Global Times on Friday. 

The health packages were prepared by Chinese embassies for Chinese students overseas to provide them with much-needed sanitary supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The packages contain masks, disinfectant wipes and Lianhua Qingwen capsules, a traditional Chinese medicine widely used in COVID-19 treatment in China and proven effective.

The issue triggered backlash on Chinese social media. 

“The US government is not only doing little to prevent and control the domestic virus crisis, but is setting hurdles for others trying to protect their people,” said a user on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

“The move is not humanitarian,” said another. 

Chinese embassies have deployed 500,000 health packages globally, including a total of 11 million masks and 500,000 disinfectant products, China’s Foreign Ministry revealed at a press conference in early April in Beijing. 

The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles announced on Wednesday that it would deliver a second batch of health packages to students living locally. They had previously delivered 65,000 health packages to local Chinese student unions and people in need. 

As of 1 pm on Saturday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US exceeds 1.6 million and there have been more than 96,000 deaths. 

Global Times