Canada just received a massive shipment of new much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) for our frontline healthcare workers, and the gear is set to be sent out to the provinces and territories imminently.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement while speaking outside Rideau Cottage during his daily press briefing Tuesday morning.

"Today, just like every day, nurses and doctors, lab techs and hospital staff are hard at work to keep us safe. They're showing up for us, so we need to do the same for then," he said. 

"Over the weekend, we received new shipments of essential personal protective equipment, including four planes-worth of N95 masks. As we speak, workers are unpacking and validating these supplies so we can start shipping them to the provinces and territories as quickly as possible."

Yesterday, we received our third shipment of supplies needed to help our front-line healthcare workers protect themselves and continue caring for Canadians. The shipment contained millions of N95 respirators.

— Public Services (@PSPC_SPAC) April 12, 2020

He added that the new masks are in addition to the more than 820,000 that went to provinces last week. 

The masks are currently undergoing testing and will be sent out as soon as they've been approved. 

These newly received N-95 masks are undergoing testing and will soon be on their way to the front lines in the provinces and territories! #TeamCanada https://t.co/FWkrPCZL9V

— Anita Anand (@AnitaOakville) April 13, 2020

All told, he said, Canada now has 1.1 million N95s to be distributed and there are more to come.

He added that we also received millions of pairs of gloves in the new shipment, and we're set to receive new gowns from domestic suppliers starting next Monday. 

Though the global supply chain remains strained, federal and provincial leaders in Canada have been working hard to ensure we don't experience a PPE shortage like those in other countries.