COVID-19: Apple sourcing 20 million face shields for healthcare workers, says CEO Tim Cook

Apple is sourcing around 20 million masks or face shields to help the healthcare workers who have been fighting coronavirus pandemic at the frontlines.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook in a Twitter announcement said that Apple has launched a company wide effort bringing together product designers, engineering, operations and packaging teams and their suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for health workers.

"The number of masks we've been able to source through our supply chain has risen to over 20 million around the world. This is a truly global effort and we're working continuously and closely with governments at all levels to ensure these are donated to places of greatest need," Cook said.

He said Apple has shipped its first set of face shields to Kaiser Hospital in California and that the feedback from their doctors was very positive.

Giving further details and showing the face shield, Cook said that the shields can be packed flat in a box and that a box can contain upto a hundred masks. "Each shield assembles in less than two minutes and is fully adjustable," Cook said.

Apple is sourcing material and manufacturing in the US and China and plans to ship 1 million by the end of this week and over one million per week after that. Cook said that his team was closely coordinating with medical professionals and government officials. He said that the face shields would be delivered on priority to the places which need them the most.

Cook said Apple's main purpose behind this was meeting essential needs of caregivers urgently and at a scale at which the current circumstance requires. He also said that Apple hopes to expand the distribution of equipment "beyond the US".

Earlier, Cook had tweeted that Apple had donated over 10 million masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. "Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19. We're donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. To every one of the heroes on the front lines, we thank you."

As of April 6, the USA has 3,09,254 active coronavirus cases with around 9,620 deaths, according to worldometers.

Apple, like other tech companies, has experienced a slack in production and supply of products because of the global pandemic.