US sending ventilators to Ecuador, Indonesia

The United States will send ventilators to three countries in Latin America - Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras - as well as to Indonesia, President Donald Trump said on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic has devastated countries around the world.

Trump wrote on Twitter that the United States will send Ecuador ventilators - of which it had manufactured many. The poor South American nation has been hard hit by the pandemic - which has overwhelmed health services in its largest city, Guayaquil. Trump said Washington would also help in other, unspecified, ways.

He also promised support to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had requested help with ventilators and testing.

Hernandez said he had spoken to Trump and sought help getting debt relief for poor countries, as well as seeking assistance from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Honduras has not benefited from recent debt relief deals, mainly aimed at African countries.

The conservative Honduran president added that he has issued a $340 million financing support request to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.

The United States will also ship ventilators - machinery used to help distressed lungs breathe - to El Salvador, Trump said.

Dhaka/Mukul