KUALA LUMPUR: HIL Industries Bhd has expanded its face masks product range to include surgical-grade masks with anti-viral and filtration efficiency to remove over 99.9% of virus and air-borne particles.

       In a statement, HIL said its healthcare arm, HIL Medic Sdn Bhd recently began the manufacturing of the four-layer, self-sanitising copper oxide Korean Filter 99 (KF99) at its manufacturing facility in Shah Alam and will soon add the five-layer KN95 masks in its product line-up.

       HIL Industries president and chief executive officer Datuk Milton Ng said the addition to the company’s face mask product line-up is timely, considering rising demand for higher-quality face masks.

       “Covid-19 is not quite behind us, rather we are living alongside the pandemic where the usage of face masks is fast becoming the norm and a necessity, as seen in the localities of respiratory virus outbreaks in recent past.

       “As economic and social activities resume globally on the back of mass-vaccination, demand for higher quality face masks remains solid as another line of defence against the emergence of new variants of the Covid-19 virus including Delta, Delta plus and Omicron,” he added.

       HIL Industries expects the personal protective equipment (PPE) and healthcare division to contribute positively to the group’s earnings from the financial year ending Dec 31, 2022 onwards.