Around 89 million medical masks required each month to fight coronavirus — WHO

An estimated 89 million medical masks and 76 million examination gloves are required each month for the response to the new coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release on Tuesday.

"WHO calls on industry and governments to increase manufacturing by 40 per cent to meet rising global demand," the statement said. "The World Health Organization has warned that severe and mointing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) — caused by rising demand, panic byuing, hoarding and misuse — is putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases," the statement added.

"Based on WHO modelling, an estimated 89 million medical masks are required for the COVID-19 response each month. For examination gloves, this figure goes up to 76 million, while international demand for goggles stands at 1.6 million per month," the statement continued.