BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania received 5,200 doses of monoclonal antibodies from Italy to assist with a rapid surge of infections amid low vaccination rates.

Coronavirus infections in Romania, a European Union nation of 19 million, have skyrocketed in the last month from around 2,000 daily cases to pandemic highs of nearly 17,000 this week. It registered 442 deaths on Tuesday, the highest toll since the start of the pandemic.

The antibodies, which are used to treat COVID-19 patients in the early stages of a coronavirus infection, were brought to Bucharest from Milan by the Romanian Air Force on Tuesday evening, Romania’s defense ministry said in a statement.

The ministry says the aid is part of a request Romania made last week to the EU for help through its EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Romania has fully vaccinated only 34% of adults, the second-least vaccinated country in the EU behind Bulgaria. Romania has confirmed more than 1.3 million cases and 40,461 deaths.