A Vancouver Chinese-Canadian community group is stepping up to help ensure health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic have the supplies they need.
The B.C. Chinese Canadian Charity Group dropped off 150 sets of medical goggles, 150 protective suits and 200 full face masks at Vancouver General Hospital on Wednesday.
The gear is worth about $4,000 in total.
“It’s not just herself or ourselves, we represent many in the Chinese community,” said spokesperson Caryn Zhang through a translator.
The group had been sending supplies to Wuhan, China, the initial ground zero of the pandemic.
“Right now we want to provide some medical supplies to help the city.”
The donations come as B.C. health officials insist they have enough medical supplies to manage the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
Thirteen people are now in hospital with the disease, seven of them in acute care.
On Wednesday, provincial health officer Dr Bonnie Henry sought to assure the public that there was no shortage of medical supplies.
She said the province had been working for weeks on logistics and supply chains.
“We have received a shipment of respirators and we have more on order, we’re working with the federal government to ensure everybody in Canada has what they need,” she said.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said the province had received a new supply of swabs, after reports supplies of the tools vital to testing were running low.