Tunisian workers self-isolate to produce 50,000 protective masks daily
‘If we don’t work, our doctors will not be protected against the virus’
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALA woman wears a protective face mask as she walks in Tunis, Tunisia March 4, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/ZOUBEIR SOUISSI)
BERLIN – One hundred fifty workers have self-isolated at a Tunisian factory that makes 50,000 masks daily and other medical equipment to protect against the coronavirus.Khawla Rebhi, who oversees production at the Consomed factory, told the BBC on Friday: “My husband and 16-year-old daughter supported and encouraged me to do this.”The factory workers were motivated by patriotism to go into isolation for a month, plant manager Hamza Alouini told the BBC.The plant is located south of the capital Tunis in the North African country. According to the BBC, 110 women and 40 men work for the company and live in separate facilities. The plant’s production is aimed solely for the country’s healthcare sector. Tunisia has 227 cases of coronavirus. Six people died last week.“We have a designated area for all kinds of exercise and dancing for the women, and the men have a football [soccer] and basketball area,” Rebhi told the BBC, adding: “We all have Internet and video-chat with our families when we are not working.”“I am looking at how other governments are struggling with it in Europe and elsewhere, and I can't help but wonder how a country like Tunisia will handle it,” she said.Alouini told the BBC: “If we don’t work, our doctors will not be protected against the virus. I’m trying to do my best for all my country – for the hospitals, for the army, for the police, for everybody.”
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