INTRODUCTION
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has touched almost every continent. The transmission can be reduced through exposure control by means of engineering, administrative, and environmental controls.(1) Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the final line of protection of healthcare workers (HCW) especially in the community transmission phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The key to a public health emergency response lies in the abundance of reserves, proper allocation of emergency medical supplies and rapid distribution.(2) Some countries have a national medical stockpile of key reserves of essential medications and equipment like PPE.(2) While this is an indispensable element of public health emergency response, when the system is tested, this has been found to be lacking. This was seen during the H1N1, SARS-CoV-1, and now the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. There is a global shortage of PPE for HCW, resulting in transmission of the disease, reducing the available frontline HCWs who care for these patients, resulting in the transmission of disease to their families and communities, as well as resulting in HCW mortality.
While financial considerations, PPE supply, and logistics are important, healthcare systems also have occupational health and safety obligations to their HCWs and reassurance that they are using the highest level of protection and not putting themselves, their families or colleagues at risk.(3)
Currently, there is variation as well as controversy of infection control recommendation with regards to the use of PPE for HCW between institutions (table 1).(4-11) The aim of this narrative review is to of examine and summarise the available evidence to guide recommendation for the safety of HCW in the current pandemic.