After IIT Guwahati, Tezpur University has joined the fight against coronavirus by developing face shields that can be used by medical staff as a protective device against Covid-19.

The face shields can be worn by medical staff while approaching patients.

The university has dispatched the first set to Tezpur Medical College and Hospital and Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and Dr B. Borooah Cancer Institute in Guwahati.

The face shields have been jointly developed at Embedded Systems and Robotics Lab and Applied Photonics and Nanophotonics Lab at the university, which are financially supported by the department of science and technology, department of biotechnology, eYantra Project (IIT Bombay) and the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.

The face shields have been developed by a group of faculty members — Nayan M. Kakoty, associate professor, department of electronics and communication engineering, the department’s assistant professor Durlav Sonowal, Rosy Sarmah, assistant professor, department of computer science and engineering, and Pabitra Nath, professor, department of physics, with help from the university administration.

The department of molecular biology and biotechnology has helped to produce sanitisers for disinfecting the shields.