BEIJING - A diaper manufacturer in eastern China was closed for the Chinese New Year holiday when it heard from officials: China needed vast amounts of masks to fight a deadly virus epidemic and factories needed to chip in.

In just over two days, New Yifa Group converted a manufacturing line in Fujian province to make face masks, tapping some of its materials that would have gone into hygiene products.

"All our staff are working on the masks now," the group's vice-president Shen Shengyuan told AFP in a phone interview.