Over the coming days, 1.5 million medical masks will be delivered to 17 Member States and the UK to protect healthcare workers against coronavirus.
This latest EU mask delivery is part of a new Commission funded purchase of 10 million masks via the Emergency Support Instrument to provide direct support to Member States to mitigate the immediate consequences of the pandemic and anticipate the needs related to the exit and recovery.
The masks will be delivered to Member States and regions in need in weekly instalments of 1.5 million masks over the coming six weeks.
Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, said: “We are doing everything we can to support Member States in getting protective equipment to health workers on the frontline. They are Europe’s modern day heroes. This is EU solidarity in action to help respond to the needs of European health systems and €3 billion has been mobilised from the EU budget to directly support national efforts. We remain steadfast in our commitment: together we can win this fight.”
These deliveries take place on top of the hundreds of thousands of masks already provided from the rescEU reserve of medical equipment in the past weeks. A press release is available online.
Further information is available in a factsheet and on the Commission’s dedicated coronavirus response webpage.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/esi_factsheet_8.pdf
Stefan de Keersmaecker –