Lives are being put at risk amid the coronavirus outbreak and a shortage of medical supplies, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday.
"Without secure supply chains, the risk to healthcare workers around the world is real," WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a statement. "Industry and governments must act quickly to boost supply, ease export restrictions and put measures in place to stop speculation and hoarding.
"We can't stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers first."
The WHO release points to "rising demand, panic buying, hoarding, and misuse" as causes for the supply shortage.
Notably, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued pleas to the public to stop inundating facemask suppliers with one-off purchase requests, too.
The shortages are causing prices to skyrocket and companies desperate to place orders are getting into bidding wars, according to the WHO release.
WHO is calling for manufacturers to up their production by 40% amid the crisis.
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