ANOTHER delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) is set to arrive in Ireland from China this week.
Two more batches of PPE are due to be flown in as the country continues to battle against coronavirus.
The HSE ordered over €200 million worth of kit, in the form of masks, gowns and other gear, the first batch of which arrived earlier this month.
However, around 20% of the equipment was deemed 'unusable' for health workers in Ireland, as the kit was either too small or out of date.
Following the foul up, the Irish government gave China an ultimatum, saying that unless the equipment they were sending was suitable, they wouldn't be accepting any more.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid confirmed that two more batches were to arrive in the coming days.
"We are currently in discussion with China to have the delivery of the second batch and to try aim to accelerate the third batch from later this week," he said.
"We do still face very significant issues all across the healthcare system, and particularly this week in terms of gowns.
"Our Chief Clinical Officer will be communicating out to ensure that we use the gowns properly and effectively until we get the further delivery later this week."
The news just days after U2 frontman Bono wrote a letter to the president of South Korea, Moon Jae-In, asking him to send Ireland PPE to help in the fight against coronavirus.
The singer also offered to pay for the equipment himself.
