Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): New Zealand's overall response to COVID-19 has been designed for all parts of the health system to be constantly prepared to respond to an outbreak at any moment. That, of course, takes into account the latest insights into new variants of the virus that may emerge. This level of preparedness also involves all DHBs having adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) on an on-going basis. The distribution of PPE to DHBs and to primary care providers is managed centrally by the Ministry of Health, which has sufficient stock and quantity of PPE so that we have the capacity to respond to situations such as an outbreak or hospitalisation scenarios. The process for accessing PPE and other critical supplies from the ministry's central supply are well understood, and the Ministry of Health engages once a week with procurement, logistics, and supply chain leads from each of the district health boards. I've been advised that all DHBs have good stock on hand across all categories of PPE and that no health facility is waiting more than seven days to get a PPE order filled, and the vast majority of them are being filled within three days.