TORTOLA (CMC):
A shipment of medical supplies to help the territory fight the COVID-19 pandemic, has been released by the United States (US).
This was revealed by the Office of the Governor in an announcement on its official Facebook page on Thursday.
“In response to the Health Minister’s request, the Governor’s Office has been working with US colleagues and BVI Health Services Authority to release BVI medical supplies that were seized by US last week. We’re pleased to update that BVI’s shipment has now been released and will arrive here shortly,” the statement said.
The shipment contains US$12,000 worth of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help protect local health workers from contracting the virus.
The United States had seized the territories shipment following a recent order to “prevent the export of N-95 respirators, surgical masks, gloves and other PPEs”.
According to US President Donald Trump, his administration banned the export of coronavirus protective gear because the United States was in “need of them for domestic use”.