In a time where the coronavirus pandemic has all of us panicked and worried for the future, Malaysians are bonding together by helping out one another.

And this group of Malaysians is no different.

Kenneth Lee, Brian Lee, and team challenged themselves to build a makeshift pressure pod to assist the ongoing efforts against the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, pandemic by manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical frontliners.

How it all began.

From the start to the end product. IMAGE: Facebook

Two healthcare professionals from University of Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), Dr Tan Guo Jeng and Dr Khairul Azri Sabri approached Lee, a prop builder from Macam Yes Studios, to build a prototype.

Inspired by South Korea's phone booth-like COVID-19 testing stations, Lim was inspired to create a similar model for Malaysians.

South Korea's COVID-19 testing stations that inspired Lim. IMAGE: Malay Mail

Since Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) began, Lim, the executive director of signage making and signboard supplying company Vortex Media, said he has been using company facilities to produce these "negative pressure pods."

“Frontliners are not machines. They have families, they have friends and as much to lose as we do,” Lim said. “So we decided to help them out by initiating the ‘Project Cov-shield Prototype 1’ and create a negative pressure pod like the isolation booths with the help of some specialists and doctors.”

“These booths save time, PPE resources, and minimise the risk of exposure to the frontline medical staff, so UMMC doctors reached out to us and gave us some input about the design as well.”

And they're not the only ones creating PPEs.

The team with Prototype 1. IMAGE: Facebook

Through an open source community Facebook group, Lim was able to meet other like-minded individuals and set a goal to help medical frontliners.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for example, played a big role in their efforts as representatives from the group from all across the country helped by providing feedback and brainstorming ideas for the prototype.

All this while helping with helping manufacture PPEs such as face shields and shoe covers through the efforts of maker communities from University College of Technology Sarawak, Technical University of Malaysia Melaka, Universiti Utara Malaysia, and Kinabalu Coders, among others.

But they need your help.

Currently, Lim and his team are working on building a Prototype 2 project.

“We hope that this invention is able to protect our frontliners. We plan to make it speedily deployable and fast for many other makers to use nationwide,” Lim said.

Although the negative pressure pods built by Lim and his team are mostly made out of acrylic and aluminium sheets, they're in need of mechanical supplies such as industrial exhaust fans, portable air conditioners, biochemical resistant gloves, and HEPA filters.

A first look at the negative pressure pod. IMAGE: Facebook

“We alone cannot deploy it in such a short time and we can’t afford to quarantine anymore trained medical staff either. For every minute we waste, a medical staff is put at risk,” Lim said.

If you'd like to help fund or connect the team with suppliers, you can reach out to him through Facebook here.

If you'd like to help assist frontliners by helping to manufacture PPEs, there's an open-source community on Facebook here ready to welcome your work.

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Cover image sourced from Kenneth Lim.