The administration of US President Donald Trump has appealed to several countries around the world to give or sell medical supplies, such as hand sanitizers and respirators, to combat the accelerating pandemic of the Corona virus.
In a list obtained by CNN, the State Department identified 25 outposts, and asked diplomats to ask their host countries for these supplies.
The number of deaths from the virus in the United States rose to 1041 as of Wednesday, with nearly 70,000 infected.
The network said that the United States asked countries that appealed to "everything", from manual disinfectants to respirators, to help fight the Corona virus.
It is not clear how many countries the United States has appealed to, but this list comes at a time when Trump praises his domestic response to fighting the Corona virus, and its activation of the Defense Production Act.
The list includes a range of equipment that American overburdened hospitals are seeking, including medical waste bags, N-95 masks, gloves, medical garments, surgical caps, shoe covers, containers, goggles, hand sanitizers, and protective vests .
The list also includes asthma inhalers and ventilators.
And Friday, Trump said he put the defense production law into effect, after his previous statement in which he confirmed that he would resort to this measure, but postponed it until he needed it.
The measure aims to allow the US government to accelerate the production of respirators and other equipment needed to combat the outbreak of the Corona virus, and Trump said he put the law into effect last Thursday.
When asked why the law was being enforced now, the president told reporters that it would be used to ensure the United States gets masks and other equipment necessary to combat the virus.
The law, which dates back to the Korean War in the 1950s, gives the president broad authority to "accelerate and expand resource supplies from the US industrial base to support Army, Energy, Space and Homeland Security programs," according to a report on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" reported that Trump spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, on Tuesday, asking if his country can provide medical equipment.
While the official White House account did not refer to the request, according to the South Korean presidency (the Blue House), the call was made based on Trump's "urgent request".
The US president praised the South Korean testing program, which helped contain the outbreak there, the Guardian said.
The South Korean President told Trump that he would support South Korea's exports of vital supplies to the United States "if there is a domestic surplus."
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