Minister De Backer says that the federal government is also investing heavily in mouth masks. He confirms the news from the newspaper De Tijd that an order for nearly 31.4 million surgical face masks from China will arrive in the port of Antwerp this week. This doubles our country’s strategic stock of surgical masks.
This strategic stock turned out to have been destroyed at the start of the crisis. In order to prevent this from now on, the stock will be better managed. According to Minister De Backer, the new stock should be sufficient to absorb any shortages.
By the end of the month, there will be more than 100 million masks, aprons and gloves in the central strategic stock. If shortages would reappear in the healthcare sector, this can be used to draw from.
–
