ANGERS, France (Reuters) – For one face mask factory outside Angers, western France, business is booming.
A medical worker checks a passenger’s temperature at a checkpoint as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Susong County, Anhui province, China, February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
It already makes about 100 million masks per year, but soaring demand due to the coronavirus outbreak means it is adding a third more staff and ramping up production to seven days a week.
The plant, owned by Canadian medical supplies group Medicom, is struggling to meet a flood of orders from pharmacies and hospitals in Europe and parts of Asia, primarily China – where the virus has killed more than 500 – Hong Kong and Singapore.
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