The Dutch government has revealed that it has spent nearly 1,5 billion euros on testing kits and PPE since March to help battle the coronavirus.
Government spending on materials to assist in the fight against the coronavirus has reached almost 1,5 billion euros in just three and a half months, national paper AD has reported. A further one billion euros has also been made available to cover the costs of coronavirus vaccines and testing kits.
In a full breakdown released by the AD, it is revealed that over 900 million euros have been allocated for the purchase of approximately 1,4 billion face masks. A further 300 million were spent on PPE lab coats and 90 million euros were spent on ventilators.
These costs are being covered by the budget for healthcare, which currently stands at 88 billion euros. Over the last few months, the Netherlands has also earned around 180 million euros from the sale of PPE to healthcare providers.
The Dutch government has already set aside a minimum of 700 million euros to help provide a vaccine as quickly as possible for all people living in the Netherlands. However, experts are still unsure if this budget will be enough to cover all the costs, as it depends on when the vaccine is ready.
Together with Germany, France, and Italy, the Netherlands has already purchased 300 million vaccines from pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca.
The Department of Health has also announced that the Netherlands has sufficient stock of the coronavirus medicine Remdesivir. This announcement comes after the United States was said to have bought up all factory stock of the medicine for the next three months.