A plane carrying 10 million surgical masks for health and care workers has arrived in Scotland.

The CargoLogicAir flight is the latest to bring items of personal protective equipment (PPE) from China via Moscow to Prestwick Airport, South Ayrshire.

The delivery takes the total number of masks secured through the supply route, set up with the assistance of the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, to almost 60 million.

Gordon Beattie, NHS National Services Scotland procurement director, said on Monday: “The plane that landed at Prestwick Airport today delivered another 10 million surgical masks (Type IIR).

“These will be swiftly distributed to support our health and care colleagues, and safeguard them as they continue to treat and protect those impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This successful weekly supply pipeline from China was established in partnership with Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise.”

He added: “It has already delivered almost 60 million masks to Scotland since April 18, with tens of millions more still to come.

“These flights have also carried large quantities of other critical items of PPE and vital testing kits to support our national response.

The Herald:

“National procurement continues to work 24/7 to source the PPE Scotland needs from abroad while working in partnership with manufacturers and suppliers to support and grow sources of PPE within Scotland.”

Around 11 million face masks and 100,000 testing kits delivered on one of the flights last month was stuck at the airport for a period.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed the items were temporarily stranded due to a labelling issue which the Scottish Government knew of in advance, but had decided it would prefer having the cargo stuck in the airport in Scotland than in China.