Dozens of countries are struggling with a lack of PPE as NSW locks $1 billion worth of equipment away in Sydney safe houses
NSW Government has boastfully bought $1 billion worth of personal protective equipment to deal with the possibility of another COVID-19 outbreak.
Hundreds of millions of pieces of PPE are being held in secure facilities around Sydney.
In some of the worst hit countries, such as the UK, doctors and nurses are threatening to quit if they are not provided with PPE that their governments do not have. In other countries such as South Africa, nurses have threatened to stop working, the South Africa government says that PPE has been ordered but it has not been delivered.
A social media trend #GetMePPE has spread across the web with over 14.2k posts on Instagram as individuals are struggling with a lack of safety equipment.
On April 29, Suzanne Loverseed, a UK care home worker passed away after she contracted COVID-19. Loverseed’s Son says his mum ‘worked in a care home, with patients dying of this virus. She had no PPE.’ The UK has the second highest death toll internationally.
While residents in the UK are under strict lockdown measures, NSW is easing their restrictions as daily cases are at a low.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Australia, Stuart Ayres said ‘we are confident we have now secured adequate stock of PPE to meet our medium-term needs.’ NSW residents are happily getting back to normal life knowing that if cases begin to rise again there is more than enough PPE to stop the spread.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian does not see the storage of this equipment as unnecessary but ‘as a sign of the government’s commitment to ensuring NSW was fully prepared.’ As restrictions in NSW have eased and restaurants and cafes can have up to 10 people at a time, the government has said ‘industry and community’ can access buy.nsw to purchase necessary PPE.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) estimates 90,000 healthcare workers have been infected and more than 260 of these workers have died. The ICN says ‘Nurses and healthcare workers have been put at greater risk because of the lack of PPE.’
Internationally more than 297,000 people have died due to COVID-19, there have been 4.3 million cases and 1.5 million recoveries. Most of the countries that have the virus are struggling with a lack of PPE.
Lauren Leamon UTS 