Gov't To Receive Locally-made Masks

The Government today announced it will receive masks from 19 production lines under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme starting from late this month.

It has signed funding agreements with these production lines, and nine of them have obtained certification verifying that the masks produced comply with the ASTM F2100 Level 1 standard or above, the Government said.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau said it estimates that, when all the 20 subsidised production lines under the scheme are in full production, they would collectively supply 34.25 million masks to the Government and a further 7.65 million to the local market.

The bureau added the second production line for SDL Skin (Asia), which had been approved earlier, has withdrawn from the scheme, and that the subsidy quota concerned has been allocated to SwissTech's second production line.

This production line’s target commencement date for supplying masks to the Government is April 21.

It is expected to supply an average of two million masks per month to the Government and produce a further 500,000 on average every month for the local market.

The production line may receive a subsidy of up to $1.5 million.