MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Monitoring data shows that there are no protective equipment shortages in Russian regions, Deputy Health Minister Viktor Fisenko said.
The RBC media outlet reported earlier that a group of doctors, medical experts and heads of charity organizations had sent a message to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, asking them to promptly address protective equipment shortages that health workers were facing. The group emphasized the need to resolve the issue before a potential second wave of infections hit the country in the fall.
"Like most other countries, we were indeed facing issues when the outbreak began because there wasn’t enough protective equipment on the market. The demand for such equipment had not been high before the pandemic, which is why Russian and foreign manufacturers found it difficult to meet the skyrocketing demand. As of today, according to monitoring data, there are no protective equipment shortages in Russian regions," Fisenko pointed out, as cited by the Health Ministry’s press service.
The Russian Health Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and regional authorities have succeeded in increasing protective equipment stocks, Fisenko added.
According to the anti-coronavirus crisis center, the number of protective overalls across Russia has risen from 2.6 mln to 9.2 mln, the number of single-use protective suits has grown from 340,000 to five mln, the number of single-use respirators has increased from 1.3 mln to 6.8 mln, the number of protective glasses has risen from 193,000 to 1.5 mln, the number of protective masks has jumped from 49.8 mln to 105.1 mln, the number of protective gloves has grown from 188 mln pairs to 228.6 mln.