A Cumbrian foam specialist has been turning its attention to making face masks during the coronavirus outbreak.

Polyurethane engineers Urofoam, based in Askam, near Barrow, have developed a new product called Dropstop which can be worn to guard against droplets carrying the disease.

Urofoam normally supplies polyurethane components to industries including the automotive, oil, mining, mountain biking and medical sectors.

It is also Europe’s biggest volume manufacturer of foam footballs, tennis balls and stressballs.

Sales manager Cat Stables said: “When our team heard about the shortages of PPE at the beginning of the outbreak, we decided to see if we could use our technology and re-purpose our volume production lines to help out."

Urofoam says the Dropstop mask shields the wearer and those around them from the virus and is also washable and reusable.

Cat added: "We have one production line up and running now, and work has started on getting two others going.

"When we’ve done that we should be able to make up to 20,000 masks per week.”