11/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovenia were added, on Monday 11 January, to the countries that host the EU’s rescEU medical equipment stockpile. The European Commission announced this on the same day. The stockpile was set up in March 2020 to enable the EU to help countries that were short of resources to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and would request assistance. So far it has had six host countries (Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Sweden - see EUROPE 12629/14). In addition, Germany now hosts two stockpiles The stockpile currently contains more than 65 million protective masks and 15 million FFP2 and FFP3 masks, more than 280 million pairs of gloves, almost 20 million protective gowns and aprons, and several thousand oxygen concentrators and ventilators. (AN)