AstraZeneca is donating nine million face masks to support healthcare workers around the world as they respond to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) global pandemic.
AstraZeneca has partnered with the World Economic Forum’s COVID Action Platform, created with the support of the World Health Organisation, to identify countries in greatest need. Italy will receive the first shipments this week with other countries to follow.
The nine million masks will be manufactured and distributed from China.
Accelerating the development of its diagnostic testing capabilities
In addition to these donations, AstraZeneca is accelerating the development of its diagnostic testing capabilities to scale-up screening and is also working in partnership with governments on existing screening programmes to supplement testing. To help ensure the continued supply of its medicines to patients, AstraZeneca will screen employees across its manufacturing and supply network.
AstraZeneca’s Research and Development (R&D) teams have also been working to identify monoclonal antibodies to progress towards clinical trial evaluation as a treatment to prevent COVID-19.
Photo: AstraZeneca China
