Brussels, 14 April 2020

“The coronavirus has hit all EU countries. It has put all our health systems under pressure.

But some countries, in particular Italy and Spain, have been hit earlier and much harder than others.

Support from the EU and from other EU countries is crucial to help them cope with the pandemic. Our European solidarity can save lives. What hospitals in these countries need most are respiratory ventilators.

I am grateful to Denmark which will send ventilators and a mobile field hospital to Italy.

This comes just days after teams of European doctors and nurses from Romania and Norway were deployed to Italy through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. 

Further support will come from the EU.

We are creating a strategic reserve of ventilators to send them to the countries that need them most. Romania has offered to be the first country to host this EU reserve.

The first 150 ventilators, paid by the EU budget, are in production and will be dispatched to the countries most in need immediately. We are also buying together, through joint procurement, ventilators, as well as protective equipment such as masks.

In this unprecedented crisis we are stronger together, in the European Union.”

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