Washington (AFP)
Apple has designed masks for hospital staff, covering the entire face, and will be able to produce one million a week from the weekend, group chief executive Tim Cook announced on Twitter on Sunday.
The boss of Apple explains that these masks, made of transparent plastic and which cover the entire face, were developed by "product designers, engineering and packaging teams, and (suppliers)" of the group.
The production rate will be one million per week from the weekend. These masks will initially be intended for the United States. They will be produced there, as well as in China.
In this message posted on Twitter, Tim Cook also said that Apple has been able to obtain 20 million surgical masks from its suppliers around the world.
The manufacturer of computers and telephones thus joins the cohort of companies which have modified their production lines to respond to the shortage of masks, such as the flagships of the Italian luxury Prada and Lamborghini.
Also in Italy, Giorgio Armani now produces protective suits, and, in Spain, Renault engineers designed visors and masks which were then manufactured on the 3D printers available in immobilized factories.
As for the American automaker General Motors (GM), President Donald Trump has ordered him to produce artificial respirators.
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