The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has on the 15th of May 2020 issued new standards for facemasks to be adhered to by manufacturers.
According to a statement from UNBS, 3 face mask standards and 5 test methods have been approved during the COVID -19 crisis and those to be certified must pass these specifications.
The three standards include; Respiratory protective devices – filtering half masks to protect against particles – requirements, testing, and marking.
The others are Medical face masks – requirements and test methods, as well as non- medical masks specification.
UNBS also says the 5 ISO test methods were adopted to support the quality assurance of the standards.
The statement says non-medical mask standards (voluntary), will be given out by UNBS at NO FEE, for now, to allow for homemade non-medical masks to be used, in parallel to the medical masks.
Manufacturers who are also interested in making non-medical masks are advised to seek certification using this voluntary standard.
UNBS says the frequent use of masks and sanitizers is one of the measures put forward by the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Compulsory wearing of masks was instituted in a May 8th statutory instrument supplement number 18, and the government has gazetted May 19th as the day it will enforce the directive across the country.
The Standards body urges the public to follow guidelines set by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the President of Uganda as we continue to fight COVID-19 together.
