Covid-19, Crisis, Health, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Medicine

She said that the Defense Ministry so far has received about 300 proposals from 150 companies - potential manufacturers and distributors. 80% of proposals are related with face masks, but most of them are protective masks for everyday use, but they do not meet the medical requirements.

Rudzite-Stejskala said that in line with the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Defense Ministry has to store up reserves of the priority medical protective equipment for a time period of up to three months. The stocks should include 12 kinds of medical supplies - medical face masks, respirators, disposable gloves, coats, protective glasses, disinfectants and other products.

One of the biggest challenges is certification of the protective equipment. We hope that in some three months there will be local manufacturers that will be able to make products that meet all the requirements, said Rudzite-Stejskala.

She said that many companies are interested in the future demand for these medical products, but it cannot be predicted.

"Before Covid-19 crisis we needed about one million masks a month, then it rose to one million a week, not we need 600,000-700,000 masks a week. It is clear that we have to stock up reserves for three months, but it is not clear what the demand in the future will be," she said.

Health Ministry's representative Jelena Cirule said that the requirements for production of medical protective equipment has been eased and production can be launched as soon as there are test results received from an accredited laboratory.

LIAA representative Inta Praulina underscored that LIAA may provide support for services of the testing labs.

At the same time, Development Financial Institution Altum representstive Olita Untala informed that Altum has already financed several projects of companies launching production of face masks.