300,000 face masks arrive
‘SIGNIFICANT stock’ of personal protective equipment has been made available to the Crown Dependencies, the UK Health & Social Care Secretary has said.
The British government has published a Covid-19 PPE plan, which offers some information about how Whitehall has been working with Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
In the forward, Health & Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘We are also working closely with colleagues in the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to understand their needs and have already made significant stock available to them.’
Meanwhile, the British chief of the defence staff set out how the military has been providing assistance from the ‘Channel Islands to Scotland’ as part of its support to the Department for Health & Social Care and the NHS. Describing that overall support as the ‘single greatest logistic challenge’ in 40 years of service, General Sir Nick Carter said: ‘We’ve provided an Aviation Task Force that’s been able to support the communities from Scotland down to the Channel Islands, in Northern Ireland, and from Wales to the east coast of England.’
He also said: ‘We’ve been involved in helping the Foreign Office with repatriations and supporting our Overseas Territories, where we have security advisory teams deployed now in several of them, and of course we’ve deployed ships, HMS Argus, to do just that.
‘And we’ve been involved with the Cabinet Office Rapid Response Unit, with our 77 Brigade helping to quash rumours from misinformation, but also to counter disinformation.’
Yesterday, Health & Social Care took delivery of 300,000 face masks to add to its existing stock thanks to assistance from a very different source, Indigo Dental and Drieu Dental in Jersey.
‘This is a fantastic example of how health professionals can work together to help each other during these really challenging times,’ said Helen Ridgwick, senior procurement manager.
‘HSC has a number of different supply chains all with orders placed for PPE. This current delivery has significantly boosted our stocks for the next few weeks.’
