Global officials have bemoaned a scramble for key medical supplies as countries race to buy masks and ventilators amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officials in multiple countries have notably called out the US government’s effort to secure masks and other key medical supplies. The US currently has the most COVID-19 cases of any other country in the world. US President Donald Trump said Friday he would direct the US Federal Emergency Management Agency to prevent the export of masks for healthcare professionals, gloves and other protective gear.
Trump had earlier resorted to invoking a 1950 war act to require companies to prioritise medical equipment orders for the federal government during a public fight with a US manufacturing company. Manufacturing giant 3M hit back at the US government stating that limiting exports of respirators to Canada and Latin American countries would have “significant humanitarian implications”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the US would just be hurting itself by interrupting the flow of “essential goods”. Berlin’s local government also criticised the US, accusing them of confiscating 200,000 FFP2 masks in Bangkok destined for Germany. It was not immediately clear where the masks originated or what company they had been ordered from. Several French regional officials said this past week that the US government had prevented masks from going to France by bidding higher.
Regional president for the eastern region of France, Jean Rottner, told RTL that Americans paid three times the price on the “tarmac” in China. The president of the île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse also said the US had “outbid” an order that was designated for the region, which is where Paris is located. The US government, according to AFP, has denied the claims. A World Health Organization spokesperson told Euronews earlier this week that “the chronic global shortage” of protective equipment is “one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives.” Meanwhile, after Turkey initially delayed the shipment of respirators to Spain, the shipment eventually was delivered.
Source: Euro News
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