Ecuador’s Quito International Airport has handled more than 630 tons of imported medicines and medical supplies since the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis.
Of this total, 540 tons correspond to medicines and 94 tons to medical supplies in general. Approximately 150 import cargo flights have arrived between March 18 and April 19, 2020.
Quito’s [Mariscal Sucre International] airport is the only direct connection between the city and the world. Other products that arrive in the country by air are industrial supplies, especially for the oil industry, and electronic items.
On Monday of this week a DHL Boeing 757-200 arrived at the Quito airport bringing a batch of 5,000 Covid-19 tests imported by the Municipality of Quito.
According to Mayor Jorge Yunda, who was present to receive the shipment from South Korea, the tests will be used in the first instance for doctors and nurses, police, the military, traffic, control and other officials who are on the first line of the health emergency.
The Municipality announced the acquisition of 200,000 tests that will be arriving in Quito periodically every week.
Quiport is the company in charge of the construction, administration, operation and maintenance of the Mariscal Sucre International Airport
“Maintaining the cargo operation allows us to continue to directly import medicines, supplies and medical materials into the city to face the health crisis. Thanks to all those who work in the cargo logistics chain, we can have these shipments in the city in a matter of hours, which would otherwise take days or even weeks,” said Quiport President and CEO Andrew O’Brian.
An airport spokesperson praised the participation of all the actors in the import logistics chain, including airlines, Tabacarcen Logistics Center that receives the shipsments and stores them at temporary warehouses within their facilities, and the National Customs Service (SENAE),
“We trust that, with the joint work between the Government, the Municipality and Civil Society, we will emerge from this crisis more strengthened than ever; meanwhile, the import cargo operation guarantees the arrival of the medicines and supplies that the city and the country need,” concluded O’Brian.
