NITK develops low cost, reusable faceshields to fight COVID-19

National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal has developed low-cost, reusable, transparent face shields using locally available materials.

Dr. Arun M Isloor, Professor and Head at Department of Chemistry, NITK Surathkal is supervising a team of volunteers of NITK, Surathkal for preparing such low-cost face shield. “For making this type of transparent face shields, it costs maximum of Rs 12,” said Prof Isloor.

One of the important reasons for the rapid spread of the COVID-19 across the globe is due to the lack of availability of Personal Protecting Equipment (PPE) such as hand gloves, protective coverage, masks, face shield etc. Because of the non-availability of the face shields, police personnel and health workers who are directly dealing with COVID-19 infected patients are at high risk, he said.

As part of the first phase, 300 such face shields were released by Prof K Uma Maheshwar Rao, Director of NITK and were handed over to Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh, as a part of NITK’s step towards the fight against COVID-19. Explaining the materials used, Dr. Isloor said “I have used a Yoga mat, polyester transparent sheet, a synthetic adhesive and velcro tape for manufacturing the face shields. The face shields can be used for at least 90-100 days and can be reused by just washing it thoroughly using soap water or by using 3-4 drops of hand sanitizer.”