Healthcare Professional Protective Mask for COVID-19

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines regarding prevention and control of the COVID-19outbreak recommends respiratory hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment. Three layeredantiviral mask has been developed by combining polyester nonwoven as an outer, Polytetrafluroethylene(PTFE) as a middle and viscose nonwoven as an inner layer. All three layers of fabrics were fused aslaminate to develop the mask to protect healthcare professionals from Corona virus. All the surgical masktests were performed to make compliance with global standards. Primarily viral penetration and bacterialfiltration efficiency was performed according to ASTM standard F1671 and F2100 respectively.Mean flow pore diameter of Single layer Polyester surgical mask, Dual layer of Polyester and PTFE filmsurgical mask, three layered surgical mask was 0.33, 0.30, 0.39 µm. The developed three layered fabric withpolyester as an outer layer, microporous PTFE film as a middle layer and viscose nonwoven fabric as aninner layer has passed the viral penetration test, which confirms that the mask has protection againstCorona virus. Paired t-test analysis of the tensile strength in machine and cross directions shows that thereis significant difference at 95% confidence interval.Single layer polyester nonwoven surgical mask failed viral penetration test as the average pore diameter is0.33 µm which is more than size of ΦX174 bacteriophage virus as 0.2 µm and in the absence of PTFE film.Dual and three layered surgical mask passed viral penetration analysis as it has smallest pore diameter is0.16 µm and 0.19 µm respectively. PTFE film allows water vapour to pass through. In the current patheticand demanding situation the three layered surgical mask was having barrier against Coronavirus whichfacilitate healthcare care professionals from cross-contamination and protecting them from current Pandemic