IETCC pioneers COVID-19 protective suit production

The Institute of Environmental Technology and Climate Change is pioneering in producing the COVID-19 protective suits

In the morning of April 9, on Twitter, US President Donald Trump thanked the two American companies of Dupont and Fedex, along with friends in Vietnam, for sending 450,000 protective suits to Dallas, Texas. The suits have been helping the country address the urgent need for protective equipment for frontline providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.

According to the Institute of Environmental Technology and Climate Change (IETCC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST),the suits are produced in accordance with nearly a dozen strict standards, including the European standard for penetration resistance of protective clothing materials against infectious agents, and national standards for protective equipment.

“Decision No.1616of the Ministry of Health, signed on April 8, 2020, provides guidance on the techniques, classification, and standards of the COVID-19 protective suits. Accordingly, these suits includes a hat, a shirt, jumpers, and accessories including shoe covers, protective glasses, face shields, masks, and medical gloves,” said a representative of the IETCC. “The suits protect users’ entire body from the risk of infection when they come in contact with blood, secretions, and respiratory droplets carrying infectious pathogens of patients or people with disease germs.”

Level 3 certification from the MoH for the COVID-19 protective suits of the IETCC

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MoH) has categorised protective suits into four levels based on their performance. Through continuous efforts, the IETCC has produced protective suits of level one, two, and three.

“We have worked with Dupont about the specifications of units producing level three and four protective suits for partners from Europe and the United States,” the representative said. “With the ambition of creating products meeting international standards, we have sent our N95 masks to Nelson Lab in the United States for testing while sending our protective suits to laboratories in the United States and Europe for the US Food and Drug Administration certification and European Conformity one.”

According to the representative, currently, the IETCC are providing high-quality and environmentally friendly products like N97 medical masks (under national technical standards), antibacterial and anti-droplet masks (meeting the technical specifications under Decision No.870/QD-BYT), dry handwashing gel and Nano Silver antibacterial spray (99 per cent antibacterial standard). All these products are used by many state agencies in Vietnam.

As a leading contributor to the government's battle against COVID-19, in February, the IETCC presented thousands of protective masks and thousands of bottles of handwashing gel to Hanoi city, the National Assembly Office, and the Government Office.

While the pandemic is still spreading, the IETCC wishes to support and co-operate more with partners to fight against the coronavirus. For information regarding technical standards, support, and orders, please contact 0829160214 and 0919768189.