A team of biomedical engineers from the University of Cape Town (UCT) have created face shields made from household items to help prevent Covid-19.The shield was designed by postgraduate researcher Matthew Trusler in collaboration with Prof Sudesh Sivarasu from the division of biomedical engineering, Dr Stephen Roche of the UCT division of orthopaedic surgery, Prof Salome Maswime and Dr Tracey Adams of the UCT division of global surgery, and Saberi Marais from UCT research contracts and innovation.
“The UCT ViZAR project started off as a response to the overwhelming need to protect our clinicians and health workers against the tide of Covid-19 infections and quickly turned into an in-depth look at why the current solutions weren’t working,” said Trusler.
According to the UCT scientists, the shield is transparent enough to prevent claustrophobia. It has a foam lining along the top of the visor that conforms to the user’s forehead. “Making a ViZAR requires materials like overhead projector transparency, elastic, foam and double-sided tape. All in all, a simplified DIY mask can be made according to the UCT ViZAR specifications with materials costing no more than R10,” said Sivarasu.
“The ViZAR is among the first of the team’s Covid-19 solutions to have been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. It acts as the first line of defence between the user and any infectious, airborne particles, offers protection against harmful aerosols, and prevents possible cross-contamination from users touching their faces,” said the university.
The UCT team opted for a hand-made approach, using products that are easily available to make them more accessible. “This allowed the team to scale their production to the order of a few thousand ViZARs a day, facilitating job creation through a sustainable and local supply chain,” said the university.
They have manufactured over 13,000 of these ViZARs and have donated 2,000 shields to Groote Schuur Hospital, 5,000 shields to the Western Cape department of health, and 500 shields to the District Six community health Centre. The UCT team is currently in the process of making another 20,000 shields and hope to raise funds to create 100,000 more in the coming months.
