COIVID-19: London distribution centre prepares PPE equipment

Personnel at many of Britain's distribution centres are working hard to prepare and ensure the delivery of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to local authorities amid the coronavirus outbreak.

In turn, local authorities are tasked with ensuring the supply to hospitals, health centres and care homes, where there is a pressing demand for PPE.

At a distribution centre in the London borough of Croydon, hundreds of thousands of stock of PPE are being moved daily, according to a staff member.

Of high demand at the centre in Croydon are surgical masks, examination gloves and body bags.

Since recently, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) is assisting in the coordination and delivery of the PPE.

Pat Goulbourne, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for London Fire Brigade, said that local authorities have been informed of an ordering process that they can follow when their stocks run low.

"They are able to send an email in to our Brigade coordination centre, and we will then process that with the local authority to get stocks out to them. And we are hoping to get stocks out to them within 24 hours," Goulborne said.

He added that he believed the hospitals' and health centres' high demand for PPE was linked to the high volume of work brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.

"We don't get a sense that people are running out, we get a sense that there is some urgency and that they require additional PPE, to help them continue the volume of work that they're doing," he said.

More than 125,800 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, have been reported in the United Kingdom and at least 17,337 people have died.

The new coronavirus causes mild to moderate flu-like symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks.

But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness or death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems.