January 18 Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro confirmed on the 17th that Venezuela’s convoy to the southern neighboring Brazilian state of Amazon has set off and arrived at the border between the two countries by the morning of the 18th.
Maduro appeared on Venezuelan national television on the 17th and read the message sent to him by the Governor of the Bolivarian State of Venezuela, Justo Nogra.
The information said that six trucks carrying oxygen will arrive at the port of San Elena de Vailen, a Venezuelan border city, by the morning of the 18th, where the Venezuelan side will hand over oxygen to the Brazilian health department.
Maduro said that in the current epidemic, solidarity should be displayed.” Brazilians should know that we are willing to help as much as possible.”
Reuters reported that the transfer place was about 14 hours’ drive from the capital city of the Amazon, Manaus.
The six trucks carry about 136,000 litres of medical oxygen, enough to fill 14,000 individual oxygen tanks.
The COVID-19 epidemic in Amazon is serious, the medical system is overwhelmed, and many hospitals are in urgent need of medical oxygen. The Brazilian Air Force airlifted 9,300 kilograms of bottled oxygen to the state of Amazon on the 15th, and another eight tanks of liquid oxygen were airlifted there on the 16th.
The Brazilian Navy said it was delivering 40 ventilators to the state of Amazon.
The epidemic situation in Brazil is severe.
According to the data of the Ministry of Health on the 17th, Brazil has 33,040 new confirmed cases and 551 new deaths in a single day.
As of the 17th, Brazil has confirmed nearly 8.49 million cases and nearly 210,000 deaths.
