WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- American company 3M has doubled its global output of N95 respirator masks to an annual rate of over 1.1 billion per year, or nearly 100 million per month, since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a company statement on Friday.
3M is increasing its investments, primarily in the United States, to expand its global capacity by over 30 percent in the next 12 months, said the statement.
"This pandemic is affecting us all, and we are doing all we can to support public health and especially our first-responders and those impacted by this global health crisis," said Mike Roman, 3M's chairman of the board and chief executive officer.
"We are mobilizing all available resources and rapidly increasing output of critical supplies health care workers in the United States and around the world need to help protect their lives as they treat others," he said.
Currently 3M manufactures more than 400 million N95 respirators annually, which is increasingly being directed to support both government and public health response. The company also manufactures respirators at locations in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The company is also maximizing production of a wide range of other products used in the COVID-19 response globally including hand sanitizers, disinfectants and filtration solutions as the pharmaceutical industry works to find a vaccine to fight the virus, according to the statement.
