Samaritan's Purse airlifts mobile field hospital to Italy to combat coronavirus
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity organization, airlifted a 68-bed emergency field hospital to Cremona, Italy, on Tuesday, in an effort to help the county fight the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The group's cargo plane was carrying 20 tons of medical equipment, a specialized respiratory care unit and 32 disaster response specialists. The hospital will be set up by Friday, about 50 miles outside Milan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
In total, 60 people from the charity will be working to provide assistance once they all arrive on-site.
Samaritan's Purse, which is led by Fraklin Graham, posted a message about the effort on their website, along with photos detailing their work.
EU LEADERS AGREE TO SHUT DOWN BLOC'S EXTERNAL BORDERS FOR 30 DAYS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"Samaritan's Purse is the first international organization to provide emergency medical relief to families impacted by the deadly COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy," the statement read.
"The international Christian relief organization deployed its Emergency Field Hospital and more than 60 disaster response specialists -- including respiratory therapists, doctors, nurses, lab technicians, water and sanitation specialists, and other support staff -- to set up outside of Milan, Italy, where the coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed the local medical capacity," it added.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
As of Tuesday evening, Italy had the second-highest number of coronavirus cases with 31,506 and the second-highest number of mortalities, at 2,503.
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.