DUBLIN, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Ireland will place another 150- to 200-million-euro (about 162- to 216- million U.S. dollars) order of personal protection equipment (PPE) from China if changes are made to the rules on the wearing of face masks, reported the Irish national radio and television broadcaster RTE on Sunday, citing an official.
The report quoted Paul Reid, CEO of the Health Service Executive (HSE), a state agency responsible for the public health service in Ireland, as saying that HSE would normally spend 15 million euros a year on PPE, but recently placed a 208-million-euro order for such equipment from China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that Ireland needs to build a self-sufficient model of PPE through developing a stronger indigenous supply model for the provision of PPE, which will not only help the country to cope with the future public health emergency but also offer an opportunity to stimulate the economy.
The official further noted: "We will have to look at the Irish health system through new lens, and the fundamentally challenge how we deliver services into 2021 as COVID-19 will be with us for a long time."
Currently, the Irish government does not require ordinary people to wear face masks in public places as it virtually bans people from leaving homes during the pandemic, but it could make face mask-wearing a must in certain public areas such as on buses after the current stay-at-home order is eased.
If so, the demand for face masks will inevitably shoot up in the country, said local watchers.
The government has ordered all the people to stay at home except in some special circumstances until May 5 in order to stop the spread of the disease.
Latest official figures showed that as of Saturday, nearly 19,000 people in Ireland had been infected with COVID-19, and over 1,000 of them had died. (1 euro=1.082 U.S. dollars)
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