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Coronavirus: Dublin says 20% of PPE shipment from China not suitable

A healthcare worker testing a patient for coronavirus
A healthcare worker testing a patient for coronavirus A healthcare worker testing a patient for coronavirus

Around 20% of a consignment of personal protection equipment (PPE) delivered from China last weekend cannot be given to health workers in the Republic.

The Irish government confirmed this morning a fifth of the PPE does not meet the Health Service Executive (HSE) requirements and cannot be dispersed to staff dealing with patients infected with the coronavirus.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid said that the first batch that arrived is just 10% of the order.

He said staff had to tackle an "extremely volatile market" to secure more PPE.

He added: "I will remain anxious every single day."

However, he said laboratories will ramp up testing.

Mr Reid today said testing has been a "very significant challenge", but revealed that due to work on laboratory capacity, testing will increase from an average of 2,500 to 4,500 a day.

He said the supply of reagent chemicals for the testing remains a "significant worldwide challenge".

Mr Reid also thanked the public for adhering to social distancing restrictions.

"It is too early to be complacent and I do urge everyone to stick with it," he said.

Mr Reid said there are currently 1,100 ventilators in the Republic.

He said more had been secured and are being tested, with 250 expected to be delivered to hospitals this week.

On human resource, he said 70,000 applications have been received in response to the Republic's call for more help. 

Of these, 27,000 are "self-identified" with relevant work experience and 820 have been progressed over the last week.