LONDON: The British government is reported to have sold about 64.4 million surgical facemasks and 3.7 million plastic aprons, purchased by British residents for 31.8 million USD (£26 million), for as cheap as $612 (£500).
Earlier reports suggested that almost 7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been recorded as wasted, expired or damaged as of July 2022. NHS England becomes responsible for vaccine waste once the doses leave the UK Health Security Agency warehouses.
According to multiple reports, the Covid-related personal protective equipment (PPE) was apparently ordered at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The British Department of Health and Social Care has acknowledged that PPE that was unusable, out-of-date, or overpriced resulted in losses of ($10.1 billion) £8.7 billion.
As per National Audit Office estimates the facemasks would have cost taxpayers about 40p each at the time of the epidemic, bringing the price of those auctioned to £25.8 million.
Each apron cost 5p, therefore the total cost was approximately $20,000 (£180,000).
Although their sale price is unknown, according to DailyMail, the objects were sold in two lots for about $306 (£250) at the auction held by UK-based disposal company Ramco.
In February this year, WHO published a report on analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19: status, impacts and recommendations bases its estimates on the approximately 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) that was procured between March 2020- November 2021 and shipped to support countries’ urgent COVID-19 response needs through a joint UN emergency initiative. Most of this equipment is expected to have ended up as waste.
