EDINBURGH: 3D printer owners across Britain have answered the call of health leaders by teaming up to produce thousands of face visors to protect medical workers from being infected with coronavirus.

The project, known as 3DCrowdUK, launched on Monday after medical institutions raised the alarm about potential equipment shortages due to the closure of supply factories affected by the virus. “We are basically getting all the people around the country who have 3D printers and we’re enlisting them in our project to create face shields for the NHS,” digital artist and 3D printer owner Seb Lee-Delisle told AFP. “We literally set it up on Monday and by now we have got hundreds and hundreds of people involved.”

The shortage of masks arose after factories in China closed due to the spread of the coronavirus in January and February. The masks are easy to assemble. Once the 3D printers have created the headband, a plastic film is placed on the front and elastic attached the back to hold it in place.—AFP