The Australian Government is making available what it describes as "significant quantities of Personal Protective Equipment" for doctors and other healthcare providers in Sydney as they maintain contact with their patients during the current lockdown.
The greater Sydney area is currently in lockdown in response to an outbreak of COVID-19 infections.
Health minister Greg Hunt said telehealth is an important platform to ensure ongoing contact between healthcare providers and patients. Yet he also said in-person contact can be necessary.
He said GPs, pharmacists and allied health professionals in the greater Sydney area can request a package of personal protective equipment from the National Medical Stockpile through their local Primary Health Network through an initial allocation of up to 1 million surgical masks, 1 million N95 masks, 250,000 pairs of gloves, 250,000 gowns and 250,000 goggles.
Minister Hunt said since the start of the pandemic, the federal government has deployed more than 90 million masks, 5.6 million gowns, 12.4 million sets of gloves and 980,000 goggles from the National Medical Stockpile.