Vatican City, Jun 26, 2020 / 10:00 am
The Vatican announced Friday that Pope Francis has donated 35 ventilators to overwhelmed hospitals in developing countries as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide nears 10 million.
The pope donated four ventilators each to Haiti, Venezuela, and Brazil, a country which has suffered more than 50,000 deaths from COVID-19.
Ventilators were also distributed to Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and the Dominican Republic through the local apostolic nunciatures, or Vatican embassies.
Pope Francis "expresses his closeness to countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those with more distressed healthcare systems," the Office of Papal Charities reported in a statement June 26.