Italy needs 100 million face masks per month to protect frontline medical staff from the country's dramatic coronavirus epidemic, a number tha will be regularly available from next week, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio wrote Friday on Facebook.
"Italy requires 100 million face masks and we will be able to achieve this from next week thanks to various new contracts that we have signed," read the post.
The government will also use its security forces and storage facilities to ensure the face masks and other crucial medical items reach hospitals across the country, the post said.
"Now more than ever, teamwork is key," Di Maio underlined.
Di Maio said another six million face masks arrived from China overnight as the foreign ministry continues to seek essential medical supplies from all over the world.
"We are continuing to source millions and millions of face masks and thousands of ventilators from around the world. As long as this emergency lasts, the foreign ministry will work tirelessly to get the medical supplies we need to fight the coronavirus in our hospitals," the post underlined.
Italy is currently the global epicentre of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic with 9,134 deaths and 66,414 positive cases, according to figures from the civil protection agency on Friday.
The Covid-19 outbreak in Italy has strained its health system to breaking point and a lack of protective equipment and ventilators in hospitals has contributed to the deaths of at least 46 doctors
