Xiaomi to donate N95 masks, protective suits to help states battle coronavirus

Smartphone maker Xiaomi will donate N95 masks and protective suits to state governments, hospitals, and police forces this week, a top company official said on Monday.

The price of N95 masks in India has seen an 18-fold spike and stock is unavailable in most parts of the country due to high demand, following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

"..we have imported lakhs of N95 masks and protective suits to India. [These] will be donated across state governments such as Karnataka, Punjab, and Delhi, government hospitals, and state police starting this week," Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Jain said in an open letter.

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Xiaomi leads the Indian smartphone market with around 28 percent market share, according to Counterpoint Research report.

Manu said the company would also donate hazmat suits to doctors across a few government hospitals like AIIMS and St. Johns.

Xiaomi has seven factories operational in India, set up in partnership with contract manufacturers Foxconn and Flex. Over 30,000 employees in India work on its projects.

"At Xiaomi India, we have taken several precautions such as curtailing business travel and external meetings, and ensuring employees and partners wear masks and keep their hands clean and sanitised. We have also implemented work from home and encourage maintaining social distance," he said.

To promote social distancing, Xiaomi is attending to only four customers at a time across its more than 2,000 service centres.

"We are taking social distancing measures and only appointments via our online token system will be allowed, ensuring no more than four customers in the service centres. For all home service requests, all our engineers use masks, shoe covers, sterile gloves, and sanitise their hands and devices to ensure maximum hygiene and caution," Manu said.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)