Teachers from a Norfolk school have responded to NHS concerns about protective equipment by manufacturing their own.
In response to the rise in patients being treated for coronavirus at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, art and design teachers from Norwich School have given up their time to make protective visors for healthcare staff and key workers.
They have now shared the designs with other schools to ensure as many visors can be made as possible.
The first deliveries of visors have made it to their destinations - a Norfolk hospital, GP surgery and hospice, and numerous hospitals in London.
The delivery also includes around 100 pairs of goggles and 30 boxes of gloves donated from the school’s science department.
Ed Cann, the teacher who initiated the effort, said: “We have had numerous requests from the local medical community for the school’s support.
“Following prototyping on Sunday, we managed to produce 138 on Monday using the materials we had in stock.”
The visors are being constructed with the school’s laser cutter, with available materials suggesting they can produce at least 150 face shields each day.
Headteacher Steffan Griffiths said: “Norwich School has remained open to supervise the children of key workers and is now pleased to be able to use its resources to support the NHS in another way.
“I am grateful to my colleagues for giving their time and using their expertise to make equipment which enables health workers to assist those in need.
“It is important that everyone plays their part in helping the community respond to the coronavirus outbreak and we will continue to explore ways in which we can be useful to these wider efforts.”
Their effort comes as the number of patients being treated for, and dying from, coronavirus continued to rise over the last week.
There have also been urgent calls from frontline staff for better protective equipment and more testing.
As of Wednesday, April 1, 25 people had died in Norfolk hospitals as a result of the disease.
NHS England, meanwhile, announced a further 486 people had died after testing positive for the virus, the youngest being aged just 13.
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