Germany sends ICU plane to Italy to aide Covid-19 patients

GERMANY has sent its intensive care unit (ICU) plane to collect Covid-19 patients from Italian hospitals so they can be treated in German hospitals to ease the pressure on Italy’s collapsing health care.

Its Airbus A310 MedEvac (pictured above) will fly the infected patients from Italy to various hospitals in Germany. The ICU plane has a capacity of 44 beds, of which 16 are for patients in critical condition needing ICU treatment, and can carry up to 25 medical staff.

The Italian health care system is inundated with the soaring numbers of Covid-19 patients needing ICU. Around 41 health professionals in Italy are reported to have died from the coronavirus since the pandemic started, and more than 5,000 health workers are said to be infected.

Teams of medics from Cuba, Latin America and other parts of the world have also flown to Italy to help assist the country’s healthcare over the past weeks. Italy has the most confirmed Covid-19 cases (101,739+)  after the USA (156,690), and has suffered the most deaths from the disease (11,591+) to date.