Carrying 11.9 metric tons of emergency medical and anti-epidemic materials, cargo charter flight YG9093 took off from Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport in Quanzhou, a city in East China's Fujian province, and headed for Manila on March 25, in a bid to help the Philippines successfully fight the spreading novel coronavirus.

The medical materials were donated by the Foreign Affairs Department of the Fujian provincial government and the Jinjiang Chamber of Commerce and transported by Fujian Dry Port Group.

A shipment of anti-epidemic materials is transported to the Philippines from Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport by charter flight on March 25. [Photo/qzwb.com]

The shipment contents are currently the most in short supply in medical and prevention materials in the Philippines, officials said. They included 40,000 novel coronavirus antibody detection reagents, 25,000 rapid diagnostic test strips, some 1,200 boxes of surgical needles and 3.13 million protective masks.

"Considering the importance and urgency of the anti-epidemic materials, the group decided to charter flights to transport them, hoping to send the materials to the front-line of the epidemic prevention as soon as possible," said Li Zixing, general manager of Fujian Dry Port Group.

Since March, Quanzhou customs has inspected and released more than 5 million masks and protective clothing that have been exported to the Philippines at the Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport, helping the Philippines win the battle against the epidemic.