BMW to start producing face masks for public and the company’s workers

German automaker BMW will start producing face masks to help safeguard its own staff and the public against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Executive Oliver Zipse said.

Zipse said the automaker would soon be able to produce several hundred thousand masks on daily basis.

The company has already provided 100,000 masks to the government from its own existing stocks, and provided more than another 50,000 masks and a million medical gloves on Wednesday, with a further million masks to be delivered in the next two weeks.

BMW stated on earlier that a production stoppage at its plants is being extended by two weeks until April 30.

About 116,801 people in Germany have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus. The virus has killed 2,508 people in the country.