Protective gear for healthcare workers 'rapidly depleting'

GENEVA • The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that understanding of how the coronavirus spreads is rapidly increasing, but warned that protective gear needed to fight it was "rapidly depleting".

The United Nations health agency voiced concern that the masks, goggles and other protective equipment used by healthcare workers were running out amid panic buying and manipulation of markets.

"We are concerned that countries' abilities to respond are being compromised by the severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment... caused by rising demand, hoarding and misuse," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

"We can't stop Covid-19 without protecting our health workers," he said. The prices of surgical masks have increased sixfold, while the cost of ventilators has tripled, he added.

Dr Tedros said WHO had shipped more than half a million sets of personal protective equipment to 27 countries, but warned that "supplies are rapidly depleting".

He urged a dramatic hike in production, saying WHO estimates the response to Covid-19 would require 89 million medical masks, 76 million pairs of examination gloves and 1.6 million goggles each month.

More than 3,200 people have died from the virus, while around 94,000 have been infected across 77 countries and territories.

Dr Tedros said he understood why people were rushing to stock up. "Fear is a natural human response to any threat, especially when it is a threat we don't completely understand."

But with more data, there is a growing understanding of the virus and how it spreads, he said, stressing that the new virus is "unique".

While often compared with the flu, Dr Tedros stressed that the virus is far more deadly.

"More people are susceptible to infection and some will suffer serious disease. Globally, about 3.4 per cent of Covid-19 cases have died," he said.

"By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 per cent of those infected."

And while many people have over the years built up immunity to seasonal flu, "no one has immunity" to the coronavirus, he acknowledged. At the same time though, it does not spread as easily as the flu, and unlike the flu, "containment is possible".

Another difference, he said, is that while influenza can easily spread from people showing no symptoms, evidence from China shows "only 1 per cent of reported cases do not have symptoms".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE