Chinhoyi, (New Ziana) – The Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) has started producing face masks as part of national efforts to arrest the spread of Covid-19, college officials have said.

The government has requested local businesses, including universities, to ramp up production of any medical products that could assist in efforts to combat Covid-19, a pandemic which has killed over 40 000 worldwide, and infected nearly one million others.

In Zimbabwe, eight people have contracted Covid-19, one of whom has died.

Chinhoyi University director of public relations and marketing, Musekiwa Tapera said the college’s production unit had suspended all other productions to concentrate on face masks.

These were badly needed in the fight against Covid-19, and were in acute short supply worldwide. Due to the shortage, prices have sky-rocketed.

“When this pandemic came, it was the decision of management and government to now turn this whole production unit into the mass production of masks because we thought as a university we need to play our part in addressing this challenge and that’s exactly what we are doing,” Tapera said.

“So far, we have stopped all lines of production and concentrating on these masks,” he said.

But he said the production process was being hampered by power outages which left the university to heavily depend on its generator.

University vice chancellor, Professor David Simbi called on power utility Zesa to provide the college with dedicated power supply to ensure production of face masks was not hampered.

“Half the time we are stopping, that is very disruptive. My appeal to Zesa – I know we have talked to our local guys – is to say look, this is a crisis, can you not simply dedicate something to the Chinhoyi University of Technology so that they are able to then produce face masks to the maximum?”

Several other universities have also joined the national initiative to produce medical supplies of various kinds, particularly that needed in the Covid-19 fight.
New Ziana