Coronavirus: Pakistan makes face shield for school children

Pakistan is successfully manufacturing international standard, economical face shields for kids and school-going children in order to protect them against the contagious coronavirus.

For the first time in Pakistan, the company “SPEL”, has designed the face shield — which was awarded the European Union CE certification for face shields to manufacture and export the protective item.

According to a press release by the state-owned news outlet, Zia Haider, the designer of the shield, said that prior to the designing of these protective masks, a series of result-oriented consultations with a panel of leading medical professionals was held, as well as scores of principals were consulted, to understand the psyche of the students so that they feel comfortable while wearing shields in class and their facial expressions should be clearly visible to teachers.

Keeping in view the current circumstances, Haider disclosed that the company, on the personal request of Governor Punjab Muhammad Sarwar, has worked out an affordable price of Rs 150 for a shield so that even poor people can buy the shield.

He said that the kit is light-weight and can be washed with soap and water, provides full-face protection, is comfortable to wear, is breathable, and also provides the first level of defence against splashes and mist.

“It is made of a transparent PET sheet using indigenous technology and local resources,” the press release added.

He urged the federal and provincial governments especially Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood to make it mandatory for all school going children to wear face shields for protection against coronavirus as Pakistan could not afford any further lapse.

It is pertinent to mention here that schools across the country are likely to open from September 15 next month.

Pakistan reported 496 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of confirmed infections in the country to 293,261 and fatalities to 6,244.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 23,655 samples were tested for Covid-19 during this period, resulting in the emergence of 496 new cases.