Apple is designing face shields for medical workers, says Tim Cook

Cook made the announcement Sunday on Twitter, saying that its design, engineering, packaging and operations teams are working with suppliers to get the shield made and shipped.

The first shipment was delivered to a Santa Clara, California, hospital last week. (REUTERS)

Apple Inc is designing face shields for medical workers and separately has sourced over 20 million masks through its global supply chain, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said.

Cook made the announcement Sunday on Twitter, saying that its design, engineering, packaging and operations teams are working with suppliers to get the shield made and shipped.

The first shipment was delivered to a Santa Clara, California, hospital last week. The shields are fully adjustable and assemble in under two minutes, he said, adding that Apple plans to ship over a million this week and another million weekly after that.

Apple plans to quickly expand shipping of the shields beyond the US, the executive said. Apple has shuttered all 458 of its retail stores outside of China to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and is requiring its engineers and designers to work from home.