The Impact of 3D Printing Technology on the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

In December 2019, the COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 disease was first noticed in Wuhan City, China (Huang et al., 2020). In the meantime, the virus has rapidly spread worldwide, and the WHO (World Health Organization) has announced this virus disease as a pandemic in March 2020 (WHO, 2020, Situation Report 23). The origin of this virus in bats, pangolin, and human transmission mainly happen through straight, incidental, or close interaction with diseased persons or infected patients through infested secretions, for example, saliva, respiratory secretions, or respiratory droplets, which are ousted when a sick patient on speaks, sneezes or coughs. Also, this virus can be spread via aerosol, droplets (Barua et al., 2021), and physical contact (direct or indirect) from contaminated surfaces, wherein the virus may stay up to 72 hours (Wesemann et al., 2020; van Doremalen et al., 2020). The disease COVID-19 infects people both symptomatically and asymptomatically (WHO, May 27, 2020). At times the oxygen level of an infected person drops so much that they are admitted to the hospital or maybe ICU (Intensive Care Unit) (Tabashi et al., 2020; Cavallo et al., 2020). Due to COVID-19, the healthcare systems and other organizations are facing lots of pressure and colossal crisis. For protection from this virus, face masks, face shields, head caps, gloves, sanitizers, contact-less door openers, and PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) are needed. As the number of active cases increases rapidly, an emergency was seen in supply chain disturbance and crisis in the recommended products for protection. To meet the crisis, different organizations like research institutes, universities, companies, etc., came up with a solution and started supplying the items to the hospitals to fulfill the crisis (Advincula et al., 2020). Numerous devices have been created, like face shields, face masks, contactless door openers, test swabs (Tsikala et al., 2020; Larrañeta et al., 2020; Das et al., 2020), etc. In this situation, 3D printing has appeared as one extraordinary manufacturing procedure for its flexibility and accessibility to rapidly produce compound and uniform objects (Guo et al., 2013; Franchetti et al., 2017). An additional intention is that individuals involved with the 3D printing process are innovative, resourceful with interdisciplinary connections and uses. For that reason, 3D printing technology permits the operator to produce desire objects directly from a .stl file format that can be originated merely and shared in different maker hubs or social media also (Vordos et al., 2020). 3D printed products may contain various characteristics and textures because of uses variances of materials, and different software and setting, even for the same design (Clifton et al., 2020; Kabir et al., 2021). PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) and healthcare kits always maintain the standards. So, there is a necessity for understanding every machine, practice, and standard to certify that 3D printed products can be helpful in the resolving plan with the minimum risk for healthcare individuals and patients. Figure 1 shows the various applications of 3D printing technology in the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter targets to look over the practice of 3D printing technology during this pandemic of COVID-19. It emphasizes several healthcare devices, PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), and different uses, providing their foundation and deliberating their practice and regulatory issues.