An Air France plane from China with 5.5 million medical masks on board landed at Roissy Airport on Sunday. The news follows the government's announcement of a massive equipment order against the Covid-19.
"Our first Boeing 777 Cargo has just arrived at #ParisCDG with almost 100 tonnes of medical equipment on board, including more than 5 million masks", tweeted Air France. Very good news for medical staff. Last Saturday, the government announced the establishment of an air bridge with China to safely transport cargoes of masks, which caregivers are sorely lacking to protect themselves from the epidemic of coronavirus.
In these 5.5 million masks are "2.5 million of them ordered by LVMH for the State," said a spokesman for the global luxury giant, stressing that this first batch was part of a order of "10 million masks in total, surgical and FFP2", for five million euros.
As a reminder, France has ordered "over a billion"masks, particularly in China, detailed information by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran. The latter had specified that the nursing staff needed 40 million masks per week. Other flights are expected in the coming days to route this essential protective equipment.
Planes expected at Paris-Vatry
With a cargo area dedicated to freight, Paris-Vatry airport in the Marne is waiting "a first flight on Monday, then a series of flights spread over two weeks at first", with at least one daily flight by wide-body aircraft, Antonov-124 aircraft, said the site's communications department.
These planes "will transport an average of 100 tonnes of cargo each, with masks and medical equipment in varying quantities " from China and each plane will contain at least ten million masks.
According to government figures, France produces 8 million masks every week, which makes it essential to import these medical devices.
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