Belgium destroys 98.5 million euros worth of COVID material

Belgium had to destroy some 98.5 million euros worth of mouth masks, testing materials and medicines in April because the expiration date had passed or the quality was inadequate, ​ L'Echo writes.

Nearly 25 million euros worth of material had expired, including 8.4 million worth of serological tests purchased in April 2020. There is also talk of €6.4 million worth of PCR tests and €3.9 million worth of tubes that the FPS Public Health tried unsuccessfully to resell to clinical laboratories.

In addition, there is a further 52 million euros worth of protective materials. This mainly concerns masks that do not meet the quality protocols and therefore cannot be distributed by the FPS Economy. The destruction of all these stocks will cost approximately 1.3 million euros.

The Ministry of Defence has also requested the destruction of just under 7 million mouth masks. This is a surplus of the 18 million masks purchased from Avrox and Tweeds&Coton in May 2020 to distribute to the population. The value of the stock is estimated at 17.3 million euros.

The cabinet of Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke was contacted by L'Echo but did not want to comment.

(HC)

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