A spokeswoman for the United States Embassy in Thailand said that Washington is not aware of a shipment of masks destined for Germany, after officials in Berlin accused Washington of diverting the shipment at an airport in Bangkok, describing the incident as "a modern piracy".
Gillian Bonardo, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Bangkok, told Reuters: "The United States government has not taken any action to divert any supplies from 3M that were going to Germany, and we are not aware of such a shipment."
The comment came, after Berlin Interior Minister Andreas Giselle said that an order of 200,000 muzzle was destined for Germany that had been confiscated in Bangkok and diverted to the United States, describing it as "a recent act of piracy." The accusation of diverting the charge of masks came at a time when countries are rushing to secure access to medical protection equipment to combat the outbreak of the new Corona virus. Although Giselle said that the shipment was confiscated at Bangkok Airport, his office went back the next day, saying that he was still trying to clarify the circumstances of how the masks that were requested from a German company for wholesale sale, and not from «3M», were diverted. In a related context, the US embassy in Berlin said that the US government has not taken any action to reorient the shipment of masks, and does not know anything about this shipment. The embassy added: "The United States is working with its partners and allies in solidarity, to provide humanitarian assistance to needy countries, and to take all possible measures to combat the Corona virus." The embassy confirmed that the United States has clearly increased domestic production of medical materials, adding that it is also buying surplus offers from other countries to cover domestic demand, noting that Washington will take all measures to combat price hikes and commercial exploitation, against the backdrop of the pandemic.