Chinese staff at the University of Leeds have raised over £5,000 to help frontline NHS workers who are tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
The group says they are raising money that can be used to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) from China so clinical staff can protect themselves from the virus, which has infected more than 19,500 people in the UK so far and claimed 1,228 lives.
Their GoFundMe page states: "As NHS staff are on the front lines battling the coronavirus, we would like to support them by raising money to buy personal protective equipment from China.
"Thanks to our connections in China, we can do this more quickly and effectively than going through the usual long-winded government channels.
"We will donate this equipment to hospitals and GP practices in Yorkshire and the NHS volunteers will help us to distribute it.
"If we raise any more money than we need for this, we will donate it to the NHS."
Earlier this week, the Royal College of Nursing raised concerns about "a lack of PPE available to frontline staff", but three days later the government delivered 22 million face masks, 16 million aprons, 13.5 million gloves and over 1 million eye protectors to NHS trusts across the country.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has also stated that it does not have a shortage of PPE, even though some clinical staff have appealed for more equipment on social media.
The first coronavirus outbreak occurred in the Chinese province of Wuhan, before it became a global pandemic.
According to reports, over 80,000 cases of the virus have been diagnosed in China and 3,300 people have died.
