Apple is donating 20 million masks and producing face shields to help fight coronavirus

Apple has sourced 20 million masks through its supply chain in an effort to help healthcare professionals around the world fight the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced in a video posted on Twitter on Sunday. 

“This is a truly global effort, and we’re working continuously and closely with governments at all levels to ensure these are donated to places of greatest need,” Cook said in the video. 

The company has also launched an effort to design and produce face shields for health workers. Apple plans to ship one million face shields by the end of this week, and over one million per week after that. Cook said the company is working to “get these to where they’re needed most urgently.” 

The shields are packed flat, with one hundred fitting in a box, Cook said. The first shipment, he said, was delivered to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara Valley past week, and it has received “very positive” feedback from the doctors there. Apple also hopes to quickly expand distribution of face shields beyond the U.S. 

Cook said the company plans to share more efforts like these in the future. 

Apple isn’t the only tech giant to put its vast resources to use in the fight against the outbreak. Two weeks ago, Tesla bought 1,255 ventilators from China and shipped them to Los Angeles. The company also recently shared a video detailing how it’s making ventilators from car parts in its factories. 

— the disease caused by coronavirus — has so far killed more than 63,000 and infected more than 1,136,000 people. The outbreak has been worsening in the U.S. in recent weeks, with more than 337,600 confirmed cases and 9,643 deaths.