Furniture giant IKEA making masks to help fight coronavirus

Furniture giant IKEA is producing face masks and other protective gear for hospitals, joining a growing list of companies branching out of their normal business areas to help meet equipment shortages in the fight against coronavirus.

Having started off with masks for staff in China in early stages of the pandemic, the Swedish group is working with several suppliers to ramp up output of masks for health workers, as well as hand sanitizers, visors and single-use aprons.

IKEA has reopened all but one store in China, where the virus emerged, but across markets a majority of the 436 stores are temporarily closed.

Reuters