Razer, known for its gaming products, has announced its plan to help people in Singapore fight COVID-19. The company said that by the end of this month it will deploy 20 vending machines across the country to distribute millions of masks for free.
It is noteworthy that the company's global operations are located in Singapore. Company Director General Min-Liang Tan said that "Razer will continue our efforts to support Singapore so that it is self-sufficient for face masks as a nation."
To pick up a mask from a vending machine, the company says users will have to download a digital wallet app and scan a QR code. Razer already makes masks and plans to double that production.
The company's plan is to provide all adults in Singapore with one free surgical mask, totaling about 5 million. As soon as the program starts, more places can be added as per the requirement.
The answer from Razer comes when a country experiences a second exciting wave of coronavirus infections. Currently, more than 23 confirmed cases are registered in it, compared with several hundred in March.
However, the company also faces social media criticism for demanding to download the Razer app in order to get a face mask. People suggest that the company is trying to attract more users for its fintech platform Razer Pay.
Responding to criticism, Min-Liang Tang said that users scan the QR from the application "this is the only way we can guarantee that there are no free masks for everyone ... We fully finance it ourselves and would like to make sure that there is no fraud."
On April 24, Razer announced that it had already shipped over 1 million of these masks worldwide. With a plan to offer 5 million masks in Singapore for free, the company is also partnering with plastic maker Sunningdale Tech to increase production to 10 million masks per month.
