DOHA

Qatar has sent two field hospitals to Italy to support the fight against the country’s novel coronavirus outbreak, the official Qatari News Agency (QNA) said Tuesday. 

"HH the Amir [Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani] directed sending medical aid to Italy to support the country's efforts to combat the coronavirus epidemic," QNA said on Twitter.

It said the field hospitals are being sent via two military aircraft that are scheduled to arrive Wednesday. Two additional military aircraft will arrive Thursday.

One of the field hospitals has a 5,200-square-meter area and the other a 4,000-square-meter area and each will have a 1,000-bed capacity, QNA said.

The hospitals will be fully equipped with modern technology to treat COVID-19 infected patients, it added.

Italy has reported the highest number of deaths from the virus at 17,127, while around 24,400 people have recovered, according to figures from U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 184 countries and regions.

The data shows more than 1.43 million cases have been reported worldwide with the death toll over 82,000 and over 301,100 recoveries.

*Writing and contributions by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara