Spanish pharmacists in Catalonia fear the first delivery of 100,000 masks next week will “not be enough” and urge the public to stay at home

The Council of Colleges of Pharmacists of Catalonia has urged the public not to skip confinement to buy masks as “there will not be enough for everyone.”

THE government yesterday announced new supplies will arrive on Tuesday, April 14, but pharmacists fear crowds will descend on chemists which “cannot meet the demand” of a product that will take “days to be made available.”

In statement to Catalunya Ràdio, president of the council, Jordi de Dalmases asked people “not to break the confinement on Tuesday to come get a mask, because we will not have them.”

De Dalmases has expressed his fears about the government’s announcement that next Tuesday pharmacies will have the first 100,000 masks of the 14 million purchased to cover the entire Catalan population. The government has also pledged that the first mask collected using a health card will be free.

When asked if there will be masks on Tuesday, he replied: “There won’t be masks for everyone, and even less so on Tuesday, that won’t be possible.” He said a more realistic date was the week beginning April 27.

De Dalmases said the public would be made aware of exactly when the masks will be available.

The Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona has been working with the government to provide the network of 3,227 Catalan pharmacies with sufficient masks.

And the pharmacists admit they are pleased that, “finally, this proposal has been taken into account” but they say there will be “little time,” especially over Easter, to ensure distribution of the masks.

“This first order is insufficient to supply the entire population. To avoid crowds in pharmacies that will not meet the demand, increasing the risk of contagion among citizens and among pharmacy professionals, we ask the population to be calm, responsible and not to break their confinement to get the mask.”

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Tara Rippin

Tara Rippin is a reporter for Spain’s largest English-speaking newspaper, Euro Weekly News, and is responsible for the Costa Blanca region.
She has been in journalism for more than 20 years, having worked for local newspapers in the Midlands, UK, before relocating to Spain in 1990.
Since arriving, the mother-of-one has made her home on the Costa Blanca, while spending 18 months at the EWN head office in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
She loves being part of a community that has a wonderful expat and Spanish mix, and strives to bring the latest and most relevant news to EWN’s loyal and valued readers.

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