Regional Government announces that 30 thousand surgical masks, 6 thousand FPP2 masks and 4 thousand swabs have already arrived in the Region
The Regional Secretary for Health announced today that 30 thousand surgical masks, 6 thousand FPP2 masks and 4 thousand swabs have already arrived in the Region to reinforce the safety of professionals and citizens as part of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and containment strategy.
Teresa Machado Luciano spoke during a hearing at the Committee on Social Affairs of the Legislative Assembly to assess the measures adopted.
“The Government has made a very significant investment effort, amounting to 9.3 million euros, in equipment that was purchased as a matter of urgency,” the Regional Secretary said, adding that “more deliveries are expected this week.”
Regarding the number of ventilators, the government official stated that “79 ventilators are already available and that number should grow, thanks to donations from civil society.”
The Secretary for Health also emphasised that, in view of a possible evolution to the pandemic mitigation phase, the Government remains “in contact with national and international suppliers in case more ventilators are needed."
“We maintain daily monitoring to guarantee that the needs of hospitals, island health units, Civil Protection agents and also those of professionals from social areas are covered throughout the Region," said the government official.
According to Teresa Machado Luciano, "it was possible to find this type of equipment and these suppliers because, given the increase in global demand, we started early with a survey of needs and created a working group for the negotiations of the products in question."
The Regional Secretary stressed that "there is no lack of laboratory capacity" in the Azores, adding that "the two laboratories of reference for COVID-19 can currently carry out up to 200 daily tests and, soon, 500 tests."
As previously announced, the equipment already ordered includes 970 thousand surgical masks, 1,058,600 FFP2 masks, 59,740 individual protective suits, 62,540 disposable protective goggles, 2,881,760 non-sterile gloves, 57,460 waterproof single-use gowns, 82,712 single-use surgical caps and 61,900 shoe covers.
The Secretary for Health also mentioned the acquisition of more reagents and laboratory consumables to increase the laboratory capacity of the Azores to 51 thousand tests.