March 27 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's government said on Friday that it has decided to purchase 1,176,770 protective face masks and 50 ventilators from China for a total of 2.9 million euro ($3.2 million).
The contract, which is due to be signed shortly, will benefit from relocated EU funding under Operational Programme Regions in Growth 2014-2020, the government said in a statement.
The masks will be delivered to the regional health inspections, the interior and defence ministries, customs agency and other institutions, while the ventilators will be made available to hospitals treating patients suffering from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The first coronavirus case in Bulgaria was detected on March 8. Three deaths related to the infectious disease have been reported to date, as well as three recoveries. Bulgaria is currently in a state of emergency due to the virus.
($ = 0.9079 euro)