UK govt says resilient supply of PPEs in place as COVID spreads again in 'exponential way'

On September 27, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's administration said that it will ensure that a  large stockpile of the essential medical protective equipment was in a place that would include the masks, PPE, and other gears ahead of the second wave of infection. In a press release, health minister Matt Hancock said that at the start of the pandemic, the demand of the PPE (personal protective equipment) was a challenge. However, this time, the government’s “robust and resilient supply chains” will provide continuous flow to the frontline. Earlier, in April, the UK government had earned massive criticism for the shortage of medical equipment for healthcare workers. 

“The virus has started to spread again in an exponential way. Infections are up, hospital admissions are climbing,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned in his televised speech to the citizens.

“This virus is no less fatal,” he said, adding,”vast majority of our people are no less susceptible and UK might risk many more deaths.” 

UK’s PM Johnson assured that the government this time was ready with much more preparedness, “We have the PPE, we have the beds, we have the Nightingales, we have new medicines – pioneered in this country – that can help save lives,” PM Johnson said.  His statements come as in the early hit of the pandemic in the UK, an acute shortage of gowns, visors, swabs or body bags in the government's stockpile had put the NHS staff at risk, according to the BBC Panorama investigation. With the onset of the second wave, the UK Government said that health and social care workers treating COVID-19 patients have access to an “uninterrupted supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which includes items such as gowns and FFP3 face masks. 

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“We have built robust and resilient supply chains from scratch and thanks to an absolutely phenomenal effort from UK businesses, almost three-quarters of demand for PPE will soon be met by UK manufacturers”—Health Minister Matt Hancock

Sufficient stockpiles for 4 months

Health Minister Matt Hancock assured the citizens, saying, the government this time has worked every day since to ensure an uninterrupted supply to meet the challenges in the coming months. He added that there were sufficient stockpiles to go through at least 4 months for the medics. The visors and gowns will be ready from November, he said. Earlier in April, the UK government had missed purchasing sufficient equipment despite repeated warnings from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) advisers about the hospitalizations rate, according to local UK media reports. 

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