Several boxes of protective supplies were recently sent from Quanzhou, a city in East China's Fujian province, to its four sister cities -- Urasoe in Japan, Neustadt in Germany, Kuching in Malaysia and Iloilo in the Philippines.

The materials donated by Quanzhou included 50,000 disposable medical masks, 100 thermometers and some 5,000 N95 protective medical face masks -- all of which are urgently needed for epidemic prevention.

City employees pack medical protective supplies, destined for Quanzhou's four sister cities overseas. [Photo/qzwb.com]

After the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, the four sister cities expressed their concern and support for the epidemic prevention and control of Quanzhou through various channels.

Qanzhou’s officials said that as the epidemic situation becomes severe around the world, the medical supplies will help the sister cities fight the epidemic.

Urasoe was the first city to establish sister-city relations with Quanzhou in September, 1988. Neustadt and Kuching established sister-city relations with Quanzhou in 1995 and 2017 respectively.

Iloilo signed a letter of intent on developing sister-city relations with Quanzhou in 2018.