stores temporarily closed and overall sentiment fading what are some challenges that alrosa is facing on a daytoday basis every day alrosa makes every effort to be prepared and to provide safety and if necessary treatment for its workers and all the people in the regions where it operates recently it invested over 200 million rubles approx 27 million to counteract the spread of covid19 we purchased lung ventilators with monitors and concentrators for them bactericide units thermal cameras recirculators noncontact thermometers masks and protective suits medicines all this goes to equip our doctors and hospitals we also launched sewing of protective suits for drivers of our joint ventures and subsidiaries the company provides maximum protection for employees administrative staff switched to working from home regime where possible in times of crisis such as this the mining companies have tried to minimise the burden on its clients for instance at the march trading session alrosa reduced the mandatory buyout limit for longterm contracts to 50 even before the session began clients were allowed to purchase not less than 40 immediately and postpone buying of the rest up to 10 until the end of may 2020 its worth noting that we were the only large diamond miner with a trading session in march on schedule moreover we supported our clients with full flexibility for the april 2020 trading session lifting mandatory buyout requirements clients were free to defer up to 100 of rough diamonds allocated for april volumes to forthcoming sales periods of 2020 if they didnt have an opportunity to purchase goods at the time of session those who were interested in buying rough could apply for the required volumes due to the global situation the company decided to cancel the upcoming auctions for specialsized over 108 carats rough diamonds simultaneously offering customers to take part in a digital tender if they need such rough dpa perspective the diamond producers association has introduced an elearning platform wherein retailers educate staff during the current period while it may be difficult at this time to have consumers thinking of jewellery david kellie ceo diamond producers association dpa believes that diamond jewellery is well positioned to connect with consumers as the world starts to open up consumer respect and appreciation for all things natural will be enhanced by the crisis also the desire for a connection between friends and loved ones as we come out of isolation will grow both trends will favour natural diamond jewellery in order to show support to the trade community dpa has introduced campaigns in various markets worldwide these initiatives will be focused on skill building keeping the trade engaged and encouraging consumers to support local jewellers one such initiative is the jeweller support network that was launched recently it is a coalition of bodies resources and skills bringing together the diamond producers association the national association of jewellers naj the company of master jewellers cmj houlden jewellers the london diamond bourse the goldsmiths company the goldsmiths centre