FILE PHOTO: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian speaks during the questions to the government session before a no-confidence vote against French government's pension reform bill at the National Assembly in Paris, France, March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - China is sending 1 million surgical masks and gloves to France to help it fight the coronavirus, the French foreign minister said on Wednesday.

A first plane arrived via Belgium earlier on Wednesday and a second will arrive on Thursday, Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview with BFM TV.

France, which has a shortage of masks and gloves, provided China with some 17 tonnes of equipment after the virus broke out in China’s Wuhan province.