LONDON (Reuters) – The British government has ordered 10,000 medical ventilators designed by vacuum cleaner company Dyson, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
To combat the global coronavirus outbreak, Britain is trying to boost the number of ventilators available to its health service by using some from private hospitals and manufacturing more domestically if possible.
“Dyson have received uk govt order for 10,000 ventilators designed and made from scratch. Will also produce an additional 5,000 of which 1,000 will be donated to uk. 4,000 to other countries,” BBC Business Editor Simon Jack said on Twitter.
Dyson’s ventilators will be available in early April, Jack added.
Reuters had reported earlier that British industry expected the government to give the go-ahead for an emergency ventilator production plan on Wednesday.
There was no immediate comment from either Dyson or the government.
(Reporting by William James and Andy Bruce; editing by Stephen Addison)
