Volunteer Michelle Zhou (1st L) presents donations of medical supplies to staff members of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens of New York, the United States, on March 28, 2020. Chinese Americans and local operations of Chinese companies are making hard efforts to donate medical supplies to hospitals, police stations and local residents to ease shortage and help fight COVID-19 in the United States. (Xinhua)

From governmental distribution to the private sector, the Trump administration and US officials in different states are striving to source much-needed medical goods from China, as the coronavirus has hit the US at a devastating speed. China's government and companies have shown their willingness to lend a helping hand to supply medical goods to the US at such a critical moment. 

Among the 22 scheduled flights shipping medical supplies to the US for the fight against the pandemic, a flight carrying 80 tons of medical goods from Shanghai to New York was the first one to arrive on March 29. 

The aircraft carried 130,000 N95 masks, 1.8 million face masks and gowns, 10 million gloves and thousands of thermometers for distribution to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to Lizzie Litzow, a spokeswoman for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At the same time, American governors chose not to stand still. After speaking on different occasions about how ventilators are urgently needed in New York, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed appreciation for a donation of 1,000 ventilators to New York state which arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday. 

Cuomo tweeted that the Chinese government helped facilitate the donation, and he thanked the Chinese government, Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, founders of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as well as Huang Ping, the Chinese Consul General in New York.

"We mainly cooperated on this batch of the donation with Greater New York Hospital Association, which is responsible for the distribution of the ventilators," Li Min, a senior expert on global supply chains at Cainiao, a logistics unit of Alibaba, told the Global Times. 

Li said the 1,000 ventilators were sent to 25 hospitals and medical institutions in New York on Monday. 

Commenting on Cuomo's tweet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said some cities, civil groups, institutions and companies in China have provided aid and medical supplies to the US. 

"China understands the difficult situation the US is facing now, and is willing to continue offering support to the US within its power," Zhao said on Tuesday, adding that China sincerely hopes the US can contain the virus as soon as possible and reduce the harm it brings to the US people.

The donation of 1,000 ventilators is not the first time Chinese foundations have helped the US against COVID-19. 

On March 13, the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation donated 500,000 testing kits and 1 million masks to the US. And in recent days, the Jack Ma Foundation and Joe Tsai Foundation together donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles and 2,000 ventilators to New York city. 

Another Chinese donor - Huawei, which has been cracked down on by the Trump Administration - also offered help to New York. The Chinese telecom giant donated 10,000 N95 masks, 20,000 isolation gowns, 50,000 medical goggles and 10,000 gloves. 

About 1.2 million N95 masks were also reported to have shipped to the US, as the Massachusetts governor successfully struck a deal to acquire the masks from a collection of Chinese manufacturers, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. 

The much sought-after personal protective equipment was acquired as the Massachusetts governor was concerned over the state's supply, and the cargo flight was granted permission from the Chinese government to take off for shipment on April 2.

At the same time, Chinese companies in the US refused to turn a blind eye to the worsening situation in the US. 

According to the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA, the largest nonprofit organization representing Chinese enterprises in the US, it has donated 124,000 medical goods including N95 masks and surgical masks to hospitals across the US, with a total value of $106,000 in its first donation, followed by another 200,000 surgical masks in the second donation. 

So far, member enterprises at the chamber have donated to more than 20 hospitals in the country, providing goods including masks, gowns, gloves and disinfectant with a total value of $655,764. Police officers, postmen and cleaners have been among the receivers. 

As some American governors said the federal government has been moving too slowly in distributing medical supplies, some turned to China's provincial governments and used connections with Chinese companies to secure the goods. 

Wang Xuguang, general manager of BW Tech Textile in Beijing, which produces medical protective suits, told the Global Times that the company has received numerous inquiries from US clients, including orders from US local governments and trading companies.

The orders, often seeking over a million of the suits, reflect the "urgent demand" from the US, Wang said.

On Sunday, China's Ministry of Commerce refuted the claim that China may restrict exports of medical supplies, reiterating that China has not and will not do that. 

Currently, China is tightening up regulations for the quality of the exported medical products, instead of halting and stockpiling them, Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce's International Market Research Institute, told the Global Times. 

"China is an important source of medical product supplies to many countries, including the US," Bai said. "As the pandemic ravages the world, China is now even more crucial for providing protection gear, as the outbreak has been largely contained within the country."

As of Tuesday, the confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US reached 368,449, the largest number by country around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

According to the US media, the country has only 1 percent of the 3.5 billion face masks needed to cope with a year-long pandemic.