New York City’s health commissioner rejected an urgent request by the New York Police Department (NYPD) for 500,000 surgical masks as the coronavirus crisis surged, telling a high-ranking police official, “I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops,” according to a report.
A report commissioned by the British government has found that the Nation Health Service (NHS) is facing a shortage of up to a billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE).
British companies are shipping millions of pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to nations in the European Union, despite reports of widespread shortages in the UK. The companies claim that the British government has ignored their offers to help supply
The CEO of the Finnish Centre for Security of Supply has announced that the first order of respirators and medical equipment delivered from China does not pass European standards.
Officials in Laredo, Texas, issued an order requiring residents to wear some type of face cover when out in public. Violators are subject to a fine of up to $1,000.
Austria has introduced measures to halt the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, including making it mandatory to wear masks in supermarkets.
Italian authorities have seized a shipment of thousands of respirators and other supplies in the port of Ancona that was heading for Greece in order to help fight the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
The government of Belgium destroyed millions of expired FFP2 masks in 2019 but did replace them due to economic reasons.
Gaming peripheral company Razer will reportedly shift manufacturing lines from producing its own products to manufacturing surgical masks as the Chinese coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe. The company plans to donate up to 1 million masks around the world.
Thieves in Germany raided hospitals in Cologne, stealing medical face masks from clinics throughout the city to re-sell on the black market, as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Korean state media has for weeks now been publishing photoshopped images of people wearing surgical masks to give the impression that the country is effectively responding to the coronavirus outbreak.
