A nurse is in hospital in a serious condition after being given chemically treated PPE at a hospital for coronavirus patients in Russia.
Olga Ovinnikova suffered chemical burns to her face after wearing a bleached medical mask at her workplace in the town of Karabanovo in Russia's western Vladimir region.
She works at Karabanovo Town Hospital where staff have to wear the same masks multiple times because of extreme PPE shortage, local media has reported.
Before being reused, the masks are disinfected with chlorine-based bleach.
According to Olga, her skin was damaged by poisonous chemicals that remained on her mask after the disinfection.
She told local media: ''Single-use masks and hazmat suits are being washed with chlorine-based bleach and given to the hospital staff for further usage.
''One hour after my shift began, I felt a burning sensation on my face. Because of rules, I could not take the mask off and had to endure throughout my working hours.
''After my shift ended, I took off the mask and saw my injured face.''
Olga told the hospital administration about the incident and asked for medical help but was sent home instead, she claimed.
She said: ''The next morning my condition worsened and I went to a traumatologist. He examined me and diagnosed with second-degree chemical burns.
''Several hours later I started having difficulty breathing and developed severe and painful face swelling. My parents took me to Moscow where I was admitted to a burn centre.
''It was not an isolated incident. My orderly suffered burns as well. These masks must be disposable.''
Emmanuil Zdanovsky, who runs the hospital, denied the usage of bleach to sanitise masks.
Speaking to local media, he said: ''We do not use bleach to sterilise masks and protective gowns.''
However, law enforcement confirmed the opposite and found numerous violations after checking the medical facility.
A statement from the local prosecutor's office said: ''The health authorities of the region and the hospital administration failed to secure enough masks and hazmat suits for the hospital staff.'
''Because of the shortage, medics were ordered to sterilise disposable masks and PPE with chlorine bleach and use them again.
''Examinations showed that the nurse received chemical burns to her face after wearing one of those chemically treated masks.
''Also, two other medics were infected with coronavirus due to the PPE shortage.''
The investigation continues.
Russia has 221,344 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 2,009 people having died from the disease.
