Adrian Cheng, the man behind China’s K11 Art Foundation, has announced that he is supplying vending machines stocked with free medical-grade face masks across Hong Kong to help protect people from coronavirus.
Launching in late April, 35 vending machines will be installed in designated service centres across 18 of the city’s districts. The service centres are headed by eight NGOs based in Hong Kong that have been supplied with 10 million (!) face masks in total.
To avoid queueing, people will need to pre-register online for a “smart redemption card”, which has a QR code that can be scanned at one of the designated centres each week to redeem a free pack of five masks.
Announcing the project on Instagram, Cheng said: “Our teams have been working tirelessly to make sure we have the ability to produce high-quality medical face masks here in Hong Kong. Today, I’m pleased to share with you all that all of our four local production lines will be coming online starting this month, and we will donate 10 MILLION masks in priority to eight NGOs across the city through a ‘Mask To Go’ distribution program, with a small portion of the production used to ensure all our employees are protected too.”
He added: “I’m so proud of the dedication and effort our teams have put into this program. I also appreciate very much the positive feedback that we have received from the public so far regarding this initiative, which I hope will prompt others to join us in our effort.”
On top of this, Cheng will also be donating 300,000 face masks to the UK.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, businesses across the world are stepping up to play their part in fighting the disease. With LVMH and Kering Group announcing their intentions to produce face masks for France, Pyer Moss has also converted its NYC office into a coronavirus donation centre, while the British Fashion Council has urged designers, with the means, to help with the production of face masks. Prada has committed to making 80,000 medical overalls and 110,000 face masks.
