a lot of the stuff available in MARCH was outdated and did not conform and quantities of less than 1 tonnes was available. you could buy 12,000 facemasks /gloves [in 3 forms and all sizes ] and also plastic face shields 12,000 tie on face masks would set you back £3960: 12000 gloves 6000 pairs £1900.00 best /£1700 lower …. now prices are 50 pairs gloves =£12 [best Q ]Well as an example the company I work for , a family owned firm with 350 staff, who had never bought PPE before, in March set up new supply chains, chartered planes and brought PPE to the UK from China. We supplied many national organisations including NHS trusts. How could we do it having never done it before and the UK Govt be unable to do so and sat with their thumbs up their a$$.
COUNTRIES DO NOT BUY a tonne or so they buy in 10 tonne or more lots ….