SINGAPORE - The Republic has sent medical supplies to Brunei that will allow doctors there to detect and help contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday (March 25) that the Government has contributed diagnostic kits that can perform 3,000 tests and a polymerase chain reaction machine to test for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

MFA said that the offer was made in a phone call between Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Brunei Health Minister Haji Mohammad Isham Haji Jaafar.

The supplies were handed over by High Commissioner of Singapore to Brunei, Mr Lim Hong Huai, to Datuk Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham at the Brunei Ministry of Health on Wednesday morning.

"Singapore will continue to work with Brunei to fight and contain the spread of Covid-19 in our countries," MFA said in the statement.

Singapore previously sent medical supplies to the Philippines on Tuesday (March 24), to Myanmar on March 4, and to China on Feb 19 and Feb 8.

"The successful containment of Covid-19 will require countries in the region to work together and help each other out," MFA said on Tuesday.

For the March 4 dispatch, the supplies were handed over by Singapore's Ambassador to Myanmar, Ms Vanessa Chan, to Myanmar National Health Laboratory director Htay Htay Tin at Yangon International Airport.

For the Feb 19 dispatch, Singapore's Ambassador to China Lui Tuck Yew handed over the country's humanitarian assistance to People's Liberation Army General Hospital Medical Service Department deputy head Zhang Fu in Beijing.

The Feb 8 dispatch of humanitarian assistance by the Singapore Government was sent to Wuhan.

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