Razer is going to help in the fight against coronavirus by repurposing some of its product manufacturing lines away from producing gaming peripherals, using them to make surgical masks instead.

The company’s chief executive, Min-Liang Tan, took to Twitter to make the announcement.

While there has been incredible demand for our products during this time with many staying home to avoid the crowds (and to play games), the team at @Razer understands that all of us have a part to play in fighting the virus – no matter which industry we come from.

Over the past few days, our designers and engineers have been working 24-hour shifts to convert some of our existing manufacturing lines to produce surgical masks so that we can donate them to countries around the world.

The CEO then added that Razer intends to donate up to one million masks to health authorities across a number of countries globally, beginning with Singapore.

The manufacturer’s global and regional offices will also be in touch with governments and authorities in their respective territories, in order to work out how exactly to deploy the surgical masks, and where to prioritize support.

Wider response

Obviously this is a much welcome philanthropic move from Razer in the face of the spread of COVID-19, as part of a larger movement within the tech world to try and help fight against the outbreak.

That includes the call for the development of an open source respirator, Microsoft giving all NHS staff free access to Microsoft Teams in the UK, LogMeIn providing free ‘Emergency Remote Work Kits’ and of course the project whereby you can contribute the resources of your home PC to help scientists develop a treatment for coronavirus (as well as many other initiatives and companies pitching in to help).

Via Windows Central