Solidarity among nations battling the coronavirus pandemic is tested by desperation for masks, gowns, respirators and other medical supplies.
The tiny republic, wedged next to what would be two of Italy’s hardest-hit provinces in the, had already registered 11 deaths by March 17 — a sizeable number in a country of just 33,000, and a harbinger of worse to come. So authorities sent off a bank transfer to a supplier in Lugano, Switzerland, to pay for a half-million masks, to be shared with Italian neighbors.Said Dr. Gabriele Rinaldi, director of San Marino’s Health Authority: “It was a very bitter lesson.
The U.S. Embassy in Paris on Friday insisted that no one from the federal government bought masks destined for France. President Trump has suggested, however, that states get their own medical equipment to fight the virus, setting off a mad scramble among state officials.France, meanwhile, has laid claim to supplies within its borders.
The European Union, a bloc of 27 nations built upon open borders and markets, has tried to temper this every-country-for-itself free-for-all. The EU’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that progress had been made in dealing with exports of medical equipment by France, Germany and some other nations.
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