Airport, Covid-19, Crisis, Estonia, Good for Business, Latvia, Medicine, Transport

The North Estonia Medical Center (PERH) ordered in collaboration with the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs personal protective equipment that will be distributed among Estonian health care institutions and general care homes under the Health Board's distribution plan at the earliest opportunity, spokespeople for the Ministry of Social Affairs said.

The consignment includes 1.5 million masks, 30,000 FFP2 respirators, 20,000 gowns, 5,000 pairs of protective goggles and 500,000 pairs of nitrile gloves.

For the Republic of Latvia separately 500,000 surgical masks and 30,000 FFP2 respirators have been earmarked. The Estonian embassy in Beijing, which communicated with Chinese authorities and helped with customs clearances,  played a role in its own right in the fulfillment of the order.

Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik said that for the people working on the front line in medical institutions and care homes personal protective equipment must be ensured.

"The state is continuously keeping an eye on the stocks, and we are working with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on multiple fronts for the deliveries of personal protective equipment to Estonia to be continuous and for there to be no glitches. Today's amount will provide support to general care homes in the first place, personal protective equipment for other social welfare institutions will arrive with the next consignments," the minister said.

The CEO of PERH, Agris Peedu, said that the delivery is expected to significantly ease the shortage of personal protective equipment, which most workers of the front line in Estonia are faced with, at east for some time. 

Taavi Rajur, manager of mail-order company Hansapost, said that their company, which has many years of experience with deliveries of goods from China, offered its help when it came out that the crisis regarding personal protective equipment is serious and the equipment has to be procured all the way from China. 

"In a situation where most agreements don't hold and overbidding takes place at the gates of the mask manufacturing plant, figuratively speaking, and in cash, special credit has to be given to the cooperation which ensured that the plane with the goods departed from China at all. The assistance of the Estonian embassy was invaluable, and excellent synergy emerged in cooperation with the Republic of Latvia and the company Lauma Fabrics. Nobody would have been strong enough for the procurement when acting alone," Rajur said.