A Turkish Air Force plane delivered 250,000 items of personal protective equipment to a British military base on April 10 following widespread appeals for more equipment nationwide. According to the Ministry of Defence, the delivery included '50,000 N-95 face masks; 100,000 surgical masks; and 100,000 protective suits'. The equipment would be delivered to hospitals across the UK. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: 'The delivery of this vital equipment will bring protection and relief to thousands of critical workers across the UK, as they bravely and tirelessly work to keep us safe. It is also a tribute to the strong bilateral ties with our ally Turkey, and I am immensely grateful for their kind gesture.' As of April 12, 88,621 people had tested positive for the coronavirus nationwide, with 11,329 people having died, according to the Department of Health and Social Care Credit: UK Ministry of Defence via Storyful

Profiteers selling tonnes of face masks at highly inflated prices tried to sell them to the Australian Government early on in the coronavirus pandemic.

In one of many dodgy medical supply deals rejected by Canberra, one major Australian company paid for masks in a 90 tonne cargo flight from Wuhan then tried to onsell them for profit.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Sydney Morning Herald: “While early on there were attempts to sell masks at inflated prices, they were rejected.”

He said the Federal Government had set up health and industry teams in February to co-ordinate the securing of supplies locally and from overseas.

The government’s approach was to procure long-term continual supply instead of single highly-priced bulk orders.

A number of private companies had sought to sell medical supplies to the government.

“What we offered and were able to secure was longer-term contracts for volume and time, not one-off inflated purchases,” he said.

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The minister said that early in the spread of coronavirus, a procurement team together with high level diplomatic efforts had locked in supply lines of masks, test kits and ventilators.

In the private sector, the huge increase in demand has led to claims of profiteering, with prices for N95 masks rising sharply.

Around the time the government began co-ordinating its essential medical supplies strategy for coronavirus, several Chinese companies with Australian offices bought up bulk supplies here and shipped them to Wuhan.

News.com.au revealed exclusive video taken at Perth airport which showed bulk surgical masks being airfreighted to China in February.

It also emerged a Chinese company sent 90 tonnes of Australian supplies around the same time direct to Wuhan.

candace.sutton@news.com.au