AFP / Michal Cizek
A woman sews masks in the workshop of a small
Czech company as tens of thousands of Europeans join forces via social
media to combat a dire global shortage
What do prisoners, a former first lady and textile makers
have in common? All have threaded their needles to combat a dire global
shortage of face masks that risks the health of millions amid the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Just a week ago, the small Czech company
Nanospace was producing bed linen using nanomembrane -- a textile with a
very fine web of nanofibres -- to protect allergic sleepers from mites.
But as the deadly novel coronavirus started reaping its
grim toll in Europe, Nanospace workshops began churning out 10,000
nanomembrane face masks per day for two hospitals in the southern Czech
Republic.
The company produced the first masks within two days of a desperate call from the local city hall on March 14.
"We
charge them (the hospitals) at cost price. If the hospitals collapse
due to a shortage of masks, our region will be in big trouble,"
Nanospace sales director Jiri Kus told AFP.
The World Health
Organisation recommends wearing protective masks in public, despite some
experts saying masks and gloves are ineffective in preventing
coronavirus infections.
Tens of thousands of Europeans are joining
forces via social media to sew masks as millions are confined to their
homes under lockdown measures imposed to prevent COVID-19 infections.
AFP / Michal Cizek
A Czech Facebook group called 'Czechia sews face
masks' went viral, drawing over 33,000 members over the last week as
Prague ordered citizens to wear masks outdoors and closed borders to
stem the spread of the virus
A Czech Facebook group called "Czechia sews face masks"
went viral, drawing over 33,000 members over the last week as Prague
ordered citizens to wear masks outdoors and closed borders to stem the
spread of the virus.
Artists and celebrities including actress
Dagmar Havlova, the wife of late Czech president Vaclav Havel, have also
pitched-in to make masks.
In neighbouring Poland, Chechen women who arrived as refugees have teamed up with women's groups to sew masks for hospitals.
- '24/7' -
Mask-making has also taken off in Italy, the worst-hit country in the world.
Deaths surged past 4,800 as of Saturday, with more than 53,000 confirmed infections.
Italian
clothes and textiles-maker Miroglio has swapped sewing women's fashion
for cotton face masks, rapidly ramping up production to 75,000 units per
day with a view to hitting 100,000 soon, the La Stampa daily reported.
AFP/File / ANDREAS SOLARO
Mask-making has also taken off in Italy, the worst-hit country in the world
Businesses in hard-hit Spain are also making the switch.
Bag
maker Disenos NT told AFP it was producing 70-80,000 face masks per
day in its Andalusian factory, working "at 100 percent capacity, 24
hours, seven days a week."
The Galicia-based Inditex, the world's largest fashion
group that owns Zara among other popular brands, is also looking to
begin making face masks at some plants, joining smaller Spanish textile
companies already at work.
Spain has recorded Europe's
second-highest COVID-19 death toll, hitting 1,326 as of Saturday, with
almost 25,000 confirmed cases.
- Prisoners -
Prisoners are
also pitching in. Female inmates in the small EU Baltic state of
Lithuania aim to turn out 10,000 face masks per week for use in prisons
to safeguard officers, convicts and their lawyers, Lithuanian Justice
Minister Elvinas Jankevicius told AFP.
Hungarian prisoners have made some 300,000 face masks for the country's health sector since February.
Dubbed
"Europe's sweatshop" because of its many low-cost fast-fashion
factories, Bulgaria has seen dozens of them switch to making masks as
orders for clothes dry up amid the Europe-wide closure of non-essential
shops, including clothing stores.
Costume-makers from the
shuttered opera in the eastern Bulgarian city of Burgas have also
volunteered to make masks, while Angel Baby, a firm producing sleeping
bags for kids in the capital Sofia, is handing out masks decorated with
owl, dinosaur, llama and monkey prints to doctors and the police.
- Stitching solidarity -
A
hospital in the western German city of Essen has taken mask-making into
its own hands, with non-medical staff ranging from clerks to gardeners
working from home to sew masks for patients.
German sports clothes maker Trigema and mattress-maker Breckle are among several companies also starting to make them.
Back
in the Czech Republic, Nanospace sales director Jiri Kus is smiling as
he scrambles for supplies and financing to expand mask production to the
clack and rumble of the seven sewing machines in one of his workshops.
"I'm
happy we've made it. At first I thought it was impossible, but when I
saw the first hundred face masks on Monday, it just felt great."
"Now
we have volunteers offering help -- they are sewing masks at home and
although we can't use them, the solidarity and the enthusiasm are simply
amazing."
burs-frj/mas/har
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