New delivery of mouth masks for health care workers
A delivery of over 6 million mouth masks has arrived at Liège Airport. Most of the masks are surgical masks, but a shipment of 150,000 FFP2 masks are intended for health care staff in direct contact with corona patients.
5 million of the masks are intended for use in Flanders. The masks will be used by nursing home staff and nurses visiting people in their homes.
Flemish well-being minister Wouter Beke and Flemish PM Jambon say: “With these shipments we will be able to meet the most urgent needs for mouth masks in coming weeks. Our care workers stand on the frontline today. They must be able to provide the necessary care in the safest possible way.”
A further shipment of masks is expected in the course of the week. This week some 14 million face masks are scheduled to arrive in Belgium.
Federal minister Philippe De Backer is leading a taskforce tackling medical shortages during the corona emergency: ”We are following the situation closely and like in previous weeks will do everything to secure supplies. We are distributing face masks according to the present model. We stress nobody will be left in the cold.”