Malaysian medical staff use plastic bags as protection due to shortage of supplies

Footage shows medical staff in Malaysia making protective suits out of plastic rubbish bags due to a shortage of supplies.

Workers had to wrap blue bags around they heads with a hole cut into them to look through.

The lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has driven hospitals to turn to garbage bags and cling wraps for protection against the Covid-19 coronavirus.

PPE includes surgical caps, face shields, gloves, gowns, boot covers, and N95 masks, all of which are now hard to come by in Malaysia.

The video was taken inside a hospital in Kuala Lumpur last week, where there are hundreds of COVID-19 patients being treated.

Staff at the hospital said it was like ''going into a battlefield without weapons''.

Malaysia has declared 1,624 cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths since the outbreak began.