• Live.Coronavirus, last minute

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez , attributed this Saturday the return of the first batch of ineffective rapid tests acquired from a Chinese company to the fact that "we are in a super aggressive market" to acquire sanitary material against the coronavirus, while guaranteeing that Spain is to be done "with other types of tests" that comply with the guarantees.

"We are in a super aggressive market" and "no country has the production capacity of its own to supply ourselves with the huge amount of material we need," the president said in an appearance from the Moncloa Palace to announce the tightening of the state of alarm. for the next two weeks.

In addition, he said that "when things are bought, it is the Carlos III Institute that guarantees that these rapid tests comply with the regulations and that they are effective", so that the defective lot "has been returned to the supplier" and "leaves to provide other types of tests with sufficient guarantees. "

Sánchez also announced that the Government of Spain will take the decision to centralize purchases of medical supplies during the state of alarm , understanding that "we are stronger as one than as seventeen."

In his opinion, the central executive has the ability to "lead those purchases" and that can provide "more agility and a much quicker response" to the health crisis. He stressed that it is not about "impersonating anyone, but about complementing and being more effective" because the "experts" told him that "the territories cannot answer for themselves."

Sánchez contributed figures of the material that the Executive has bought and that it has already distributed to the autonomous communities, with the purpose of demonstrating that it is helping to alleviate its deficiencies. Among other things, he highlighted the 659 million masks purchased, of which 30 million will be for health professionals, as well as eight million masks already delivered to regional governments and another eight million gloves.

"Together we are stronger. With the state of alarm we do not intend to usurp the functions of anyone. This government is very respectful of the communities," he said, and asked to face this crisis with "victory morale."

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  • Covid 19
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