Low-quality masks more problematic than useful: Red Cross

GENEVA: On Monday, the Red Cross emphasized the need to check that all the masks used in Chinese hospitals combating the novel coronavirus epidemic are of high quality, suggesting that providing substandard equipment was more problematic than beneficial.
China has recognized that it needs “immediate” medical supplies, including face masks, to combat the disease that has killed more than 425 people in the country and affected more than 23,45 people.
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Jagan Chapagain, the new secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said, “The supply has been severely disrupted at the present time.”
In the meantime, he dismissed strong criticism lobbied against the local Red Cross branch in Wuhan the epicenter of the virus, over allegations of failing to reach hospitals on the frontlines by distributing masks across China.
However, he said he supported the group’s “deliberate” decision to withhold a number of the donated masks because healthcare professionals who risked visibility to the deadly virus were not safe to use them.
Earlier, The epidemic Cornavirus has infected hundreds of people and so far the death row has reached 425 due to the virus in China.
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