A PACKAGING business is making coronavirus personal protection masks for surgeries and pharmacies in Petersfield and Alton.

Intamac Packaging Systems of Bedford Road in Petersfield is a daughter company of Engelmann and Buckham (E&B) of Alton.

E&B has been sourcing and donating masks to Petersfield and Alton medical companies.

Intamac chief officer and E&B chairman Iain Buckham said: “When we heard key workers were missing vital pieces of personal protection equipment, we wanted to do our bit to help.

“We source equipment from overseas and used our network of contacts to bring the masks over to the UK.

“We are so grateful to all our local key workers who continue to work on the frontline during this time and want to support them as much as possible and in whatever way we can.”

The local business, which specialises in print and packaging machinery across the UK and Ireland, sourced the masks from business partners in the Far East.

They offered to help after hearing about the UK’s shortage of personal protection equipment.

The initial shipment arrived early in April and was dispatched to a number of pharmacies and surgeries in the Petersfield and Alton areas.

The second delivery will arrive around the middle of April and be donated within the same areas.

But now Intamac has bought two Chinese mask-making machines from its business partners, and on behalf of E&B will be able to manufacture masks in Petersfield.

Intamac division manager Tom Poston said: “Our partners are well-respected global manufacturers who needed three to four masks a day just for their staff, but in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis, there was a massive shortage of those masks.

“They realised the quickest way to keep their business going was to buy some blueprints and build their own mask-making machines.

“Initially they were inundated with orders from the Chinese government and are now able to sell it to the rest of the world.

“The masks are made in a similar way to food packaging, using multiple layers to provide different levels of protection.

“It is a different market for us but we know most of the businesses we work with would be able to use this machinery – and there is a huge demand for personal protection equipment at the moment.”

The equipment has all the necessary CE approvals and the masks are produced to the relevant international standards.

Intamac is also able to sell the N95 and surgical masks directly to customers in need of the masks themselves, but do not have the facilities to manufacture them.