A plane with 58 tonnes of medical equipment arrived on Tuesday in Zagreb from Shanghai, as part of a programme to procure protective equipment from China for Croatia's healthcare system during the Covid-19 epidemic.

The largest part of the latest shipment is equipment procured from the Chinese state companies MEHECO and Sinopharm, the Croatian government said in a press release.

The shipment also included a donation from the Split-based Deltron company and its Chinese partner — Gree Electric Appliances Inc. – for the hospital in Split and local health authorities in Split-Dalmatia County.

Some more shipments of medical equipment will arrive in Zagreb in the coming days owing to coordinated activities by the Office of the Croatian Prime Minister and the ministries of economy and health.

On 12 April, a direct flight from Shanghai brought to Zagreb around 60 tonnes of protective equipment for the Croatian health system and other services fighting the coronavirus epidemic, and that was the first shipment of this kind since the outbreak of Covid-19.