The Government has signed funding agreements of 19 production lines under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme, and nine of them have obtained certification certifying that the masks produced comply with the ASTM F2100 Level 1 standard or above. These production lines will gradually commence supplying masks to the Government starting from late May.
 
     A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said today (May 19) that the Government estimates that, when all the 20 subsidised production lines under the Scheme are in full production, every month they would collectively supply 34.25 million masks to the Government and a further 7.65 million to the local market.
 
     Further, the spokesman said that the second production line for SDL Skin (Asia) Limited which had been approved earlier has withdrawn from the Scheme, and the subsidy quota concerned has been allocated to the second production line of SwissTech Limited.
 
     This production line's target commencement date for supplying certified masks to the Government is April 21 as estimated by SwissTech Limited in its application, and is expected to supply an average of 2 million masks every month to the Government and to produce a further 500 000 masks on average every month for the local market. The production line may receive a subsidy of up to $1.5 million.

Ends/Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Issued at HKT 13:37

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