NANJING — Huai'an city in East China's Jiangsu province has donated masks and other medical supplies to its sister cities in Canada, Hungary, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Slovenia since March, city officials said on April 19.

Medical supplies consisting of 12,000 protective masks and some thermometers have been sent in four shipments to Batonyterenye, its Hungarian sister city, since late March, with the first three shipments already arrived and the last one waiting at the airport in Shanghai.

Since March 31, Huai'an had donated medical supplies to its sister cities of Ikoma and Anjo in Japan as well as Wanju-gun in the Republic of Korea, sending 10,000 protective masks for each.

The city of Maribor in Slovenia on April 14 also received 12,000 protective masks donated by Huai'an.

Batonyterenye donated 2,000 protective masks early this year to help Huai'an tide over hard days. As COVID-19 spreads in Hungary, Huai'an rushed to scroop up medical supplies to support Batonyterenye.

Jozsef Nagy-Majdon, mayor of Batonyterenye, expressed the hope that the two cities can return to the normal way of life as soon as possible.

Huai'an also donated 12,000 masks each of its two other sister cities, Oakville in Canada and Calw in German.