中國工廠加班加點生產埃博拉防護服

A factory in China is working day and night to help in the fight against the Ebola outbreak by producing protective suits for healthcare workers as demand surges.

The plant, in Anqiu, Shandong province, which is owned by US protective clothing manufacturer Lakeland Industries, has expanded its capacity.

Fears are continuing to mount over the Ebola outbreak, with the deadly virus spreading to Europe and the United States.

Wang Ximin, the Anqiu plant's general manager, said it has doubled its workforce and equipment output, with sales of its hazardous material suits rising by 30 to 40 percent from the same period last year.

Day and night shifts ensure almost nonstop production of 6,000 protective suits a day, Wang said. Most of them will be sent to virushit areas in West Africa and hospitals in the United States and Europe.

"We have seen a huge jump in orders for our products since mid-October and decided to add night shifts to meet the rapidly rising demand," Wang said.

The outbreak has triggered lucrative sales for manufacturers, with the price of protective suits ranging from several dozen yuan to more than 1,000 yuan (about $160) on Internet shopping platform eBay.

Dealers say the main clients are governments and international agencies.

The suits produced by Lakeland in China are made to the same standard as those used by healthcare workers during the SARS and H1N1 flu outbreaks, Wang said.

Lakeland, which has headquarters in New York, has decided to raise $11.2 million through a private stock sale to support the increasedmarket demand, according to a media report.

DuPont, another US protective suits producer, said it has more than tripled its production since the start of the outbreak in March, while Kimberly Clark, which makes protective disposable medical equipment, said it has seen a 20 to 30 percent rise in demand compared with the same time last year, Reuters reported.

Almost 5,000 people have been killed by the Ebola outbreak and more than 10,000 have been infected in West Africa, according to figures from the World Health Organization. Japan reported suspected cases after the US and Europe confirmed several diagnoses.

Some experts have warned that in a worstcase scenario, 1.4 million people could be infected by January.

Wang, at Lakeland's factory in Shandong province, said it will maintain its current production capacity as he sees no sign of a drop in orders amid the stronger international response to combat the virus.因爲需求的激增，中國一家工廠正日夜工作爲醫護人員們生產防護服以幫助抗擊埃博拉病毒的爆發。

美國防護服制造商雷克蘭工業公司在山東安丘的一家工廠已經擴大其規模。

隨着致命病毒在歐洲和美國的擴散，人們對於埃博拉的恐懼感也日益劇增。

安丘工廠的總經理王喜民（音）說，由於防護服的銷量同比去年增長了百分之三十到四十，因此工廠的員工和設備產量都達到了去年的兩倍。

王喜民提到，日夜幾乎不停歇的工作才能確保一天生產出6000件防護服，而這些防護服大多都要送往受病毒侵襲的非洲西部以及美國和歐洲等地的醫院。

王還說：“自從十月中旬我們就已經預料到產品將會有巨大的需求量，所以我們就增加了夜班來製造這些防護服從而滿足需求。”

EBay網上購物平臺的防護服價格從幾十元到一千多元（大約160美元）不等，可見埃博拉的爆發給製造商們帶來了豐厚的利潤。

據經銷商說，他們主要的客戶是政府部門和國際機構。

雷克蘭公司在中國生產的防護服與在非典病毒以及甲型H1N1流感病毒爆發期間醫護人員所使用的防護服爲同一標準。

據一家媒體報道，總部在紐約的雷克蘭公司已經決定賣出1120萬美元的私有股票來籌集資金從而支持增長的市場需求。

據路透社報道，美國另一家防護服制造商杜邦公司稱，自從三月埃博拉爆發開始至今，公司的產量已經增長了超過三倍。與此同時，生產一次性防護醫療設備的金佰利公司稱，產品需求量同比去年增長了百分之二十到三十。

根據世界衛生組織的數據，埃博拉爆發導致的死亡人數已經近乎五千人，而在西非，超過一萬人已經感染了這種病毒。在美國和歐洲確認診斷了幾例患者後，日本也相繼報告出疑似病例。

一些專家警告說最壞的可能是，到明年一月或將有140萬人感染上這種病毒。

王喜民說，在國際性抗擊病毒舉措不斷擴大的情況下，他看不到任何需求下降的趨勢，因此，雷克蘭在山東省的工廠將會保持它當前的生產量以滿足需要。