A new type of high polymer fiber material for mask filtering layers with better protective effect has gone into mass production in China, with daily output of 8 tonnes.

One ton of the fiber, developed by researchers from Nanjing Tech University, can be made into filtering layers for 200,000 N95 masks or 800,000 regular medical masks, according to a report by the Science and Technology Daily Wednesday.

A dense filtering layer that can effectively isolate viruses is the key technology of N95 masks, Chen Su, a professor at the university, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The new material can produce a superfine fiber with an average diameter of 65 nanometers to better filter viruses, while the fibers produced by traditional spinning technologies are generally several hundred nanometers in diameter, Chen said.