Federal ministers announced new ways they are working to meet supply needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister Anita Anand of Public Services and Procurements says there is intense global demand for equipment and supplies.
“Much of the world’s supply is manufactured in China and moving materials out of that country is highly complex. We have experienced challenges as the prime minister discussed earlier this week,” she said.
Anand said Canada has received six planeloads carrying supplies from China from last Friday alone and over 10 carriers overall including 95 respirators and masks.
She said the government has also signed contracts with three more Canadian companies to produce 16 million medical face shields.
Anand said 82 sterilization units approved by Health Canada provided by a company called Stryker to allow for the sterilization and re-use of equipment like N95 respirators,
(Photo: Screengrab, CPAC)
Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said Canada has bypassed fabric supply shortages by creating a new supply chain.
“We facilitated the transformation of construction house wrap from inter tap polymer and airbag materials from auto live into fabrics that meet the strict requirements necessary to use in the manufacturing of medical-grade gowns,” he said.
Bains said more than 18 million critical gowns will be delivered starting this week.
“We’re working on contracts with more than a dozen companies that will deliver millions of face shields including the likes of Winsdor Molds, DinaPlast, and Inksmith. This allows us to meet current requests from provinces and territories with Canadian supplies,” he said.
Bains said the government has also signed a letter of intent with General Motors which is working to retool its Oshawa assembly plant to help with mass production.
He said these new partnerships are helping in the fight against COVID-19.
Minister Anand said there will be an online tool launched to detail progress made on procuring key COVID-19 supplies and will be updated weekly with supplies ordered and received.
There were 42,750 confirmed cases of COVID-19 announced including 2179 deaths.
643 thousand people have been tested with over 6 and a half per cent testing positive.
