Apple designing face shields and sources over 20 million masks

Apple is designing face shields for medical workers and separately has sourced more than 20 million masks through its global supply chain, chief executive Tim Cook said.

Mr Cook made the announcement on Twitter, saying that its design, engineering, packaging and operations teams are working with suppliers to get the shield made and shipped.

The first shipment was delivered to a Santa Clara, California, hospital last week. The shields are fully adjustable and assemble in under two minutes, he said, adding that Apple plans to ship over a million this week and another million weekly after that.

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

Curb spread

Apple plans to quickly expand shipping of the shields beyond the United States, the executive said. Apple has shuttered all 458 of its retail stores outside of China to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and is requiring its engineers and designers to work from home.