Million items of PPE flown into the capital
A FLIGHT carrying more than a million items of vital PPE equipment for NHS workers landed at Cardiff Airport yesterday, writes Cathy Owen.
The delivery, from Hanghzhou, China, contained 600,000 fluid resistant gowns and 1.2 million fluid resistant surgical masks.
It is the third delivery of PPE to the airport since the end of April and was unloaded by soldiers from 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh.
More than 200,000 gowns sourced by the authorities in Wales were flown over from Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia at the end of last month.
A second flight delivering PPE from Hangzhou, China, with 460,000 gowns arranged arrived days later.
Welsh Government says that at the moment there is enough PPE for frontline health and care workers in Wales.
A statement added: “But this relies on the hard work of a lot of people to maintain supply chains.
“Throughout the pandemic we have distributed high volumes of PPE to the NHS and social care from our central and pandemic stocks. We are continuing to make regular deliveries to health boards and to local authorities for onward distribution to social care.”
They have said they are working to secure further substantial orders of PPE from a number of international suppliers.
The statement added: “Importantly, we are also working with Welsh companies to develop our own domestic PPE production capacity. We have had a tremendous response from Welsh businesses.
“The demand for PPE will continue to be well above normal for the foreseeable future. The actions we are taking in Wales will ensure continued supply of PPE for the staff who need it.”