The Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, said the United States has blocked the delivery of 3 million face masks designed to help fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Ford said Ontario, the most populous of Canada’s 10 provinces, would run out of personal protective equipment in a week.

Canadian medical health officials said the death toll in the country from COVID-19 had risen to 293 from 258 on Sunday, while the number of positive cases is now 15,822.

The premier told Global News the incident had happened over the weekend and described it as “absolutely unacceptable.”

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that Ottawa was aware of “some difficulties” shipping the masks across the border and would do all it could to help.

“We are working intensely with the United States to ensure that all the masks that have been bought can be exported to Canada,” she said when asked about Ford’s complaint, according to Reuters.

“We have had positive conversations and we are continuing to work to settle this matter,” she added.

US President Donald Trump had asked manufacturing firm, 3M Co to pause its exports of domestically-produced respirator masks to Canada and some Latin American countries.

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, sidestepped reporters’ questions about the issue on Monday, saying his government was in productive talks with the United States, adding, “We expect those shipments to be delivered.”

In Italy, deaths from the COVID-19 rose by 636 on Monday, more than 100 higher than the previous daily tally of 525, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the number of new cases fell sharply.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 came to 16,523, the highest in the world.

The total number of confirmed cases increased by 3,599 to 132,547, the lowest daily rise since March 17, underscoring hopes that the illness might be on the retreat thanks to a nationwide lockdown introduced on March 9.