WUHAN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hubei Province, which was once hit hard by COVID-19, has sent medical supplies worth about 10 million yuan (about 1.55 million U.S. dollars) to north China's Hebei Province in a bid to help curb the spread of the epidemic.

The medical supplies being dispatched on Saturday include one mobile nucleic acid testing vehicle, automated nucleic acid purification and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis systems, forehead thermometers, hazmat suits and masks, according to the Hubei epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

The automated testing vehicle can complete nucleic acid testing of more than 20,000 people in one day using the mixed testing approach, according to its manufacturer.

By the end of Friday, there were 643 confirmed locally transmitted cases and two imported cases being treated in hospitals in Hebei, one of China's worst-hit regions during the country's recent sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks.