WHO warns of global shortage of coronavirus protective equipment

The world is facing a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective equipment in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The UN agency has been sending testing kits, masks, gloves, respirators and gowns to every region, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO executive board in Geneva. "However, the world is facing a chronic shortage of personnel protective equipment, as you might

Tedros said that he would be talking to the pandemic supply chain network to "identify the bottlenecks and find solutions and push (for) fairness in distribution of equipment".

By mid-day Friday, there were 31,211 confirmed coronavirus cases in China and 637 deaths, as well as 270 cases in 24 other countries with one death, Tedros said.

"For the last two days there had been fewer reported infections in China, which is good news, but we caution against reading too much into that. The numbers could go up again," he said.

REUTERS