Tech companies around the world are mustering their resources and reaching out helping hands amid the corona crisis. Among them is Apple, which in March donated several million face masks to the hard-fought healthcare industry and hasn’t stopped there. On Sunday, CEO Tim Cook posted a video update on Twitter to elaborate on the company’s relief efforts.
Apple has now collected more than 20 million face masks from its manufacturing chains, and these will be “donated to those in greatest need”, he announced. The company has now also launched a multi-departmental initiative to design, produce and deliver protective visors directly to the healthcare system.
Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers. pic.twitter.com/3xRqNgMThX
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 5, 2020
“Our first delivery went to Kaiser Hospital Facilities in the Santa Clara region this week,” Tim Cook said in the video. “The response from the doctors was very positive.”
Apple’s goal now is to deliver just over a million protective visors a week. Currently, relief efforts are targeting the US, but Cook hopes Apple will soon be able to broaden its initiative to include other parts of the world.
This article was originally posted on MacWorld Sweden. Translation by David Price. For related news, see How coronavirus is impacting Apple (and you).