Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers around the world are facing an acute shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and testing equipment such as Nasopharyngeal (NP) Swabs. UNIZ is responding rapidly to design and produce NP swabs to help resolve the supply chain shortage crisis.

For fighting against COVID-19, healthcare workers need to identify those who have been infected as early as possible. Nasopharyngeal collection swab - typically used for testing for influenza and other respiratory infections - is a key part of most testing kits. There is a nationwide shortage of the nasopharyngeal swabs needed to collect samples for COVID-19 testing.

 

To help increase COVID-19 testing capacity, UNIZ team developed an NP swab prototype. Then they 3D-printed with the SLASH 2 using the Class I zSG resin. The swabs are flexible sticks with a bristled head that is optimized for collecting materials in the nasal cavity. There is a special “thin neck” at 7-8 cm from the bristled head that can be easily broken to the correct length so that the vial can be capped before it is transported to a laboratory for testing. With the large build volume of SLASH 2 3D printer, we could produce about 200pcs swabs in one shot within 5 and half hours. Currently we could produce 2000-3000 pieces daily and can multiple production capacity easily by adding more printers if necessary.

 

 

The swabs are in the process of test and validation. We also welcome any hospitals or health organizations who are willing to validate or test these swabs to contact us. UNIZ also developed a series of devices for the prevention of COVID-19 such as face shield, mask multiplier, mask extender, goggles, hand-free door openers, etc. If you need any 3D printed products intended to prevent or treat COVID-19, please contact us.

EMAIL US: covid-19@uniz.com