Germany to burn almost 800 million unused Covid masks

Germany is set to burn almost 800 million unused face masks purchased in the first months of the pandemic because they have passed their sell-by date.

Initial calls for tenders have been issued for candidates to “thermally dispose” of about 730 million surgical and 60 million FFP-2 expired medical face covers, the health ministry’s press service said on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

The statement confirmed an earlier report by Der Spiegel magazine.

In addition, about 20% of masks procured since March 2020 were deemed to have quality defects, the ministry said.