ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Dyson Is Building 15,000 Ventilators To Help Patients With Coronavirus

Dyson Is Building 15,000 Ventilators To Help Patients With Coronavirus

In just 10 days, the company's engineers have designed the CoVent to help patients with Covid-19

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Hospitals around the world are desperately seeking as many ventilators, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to jump.

Some of the people who will be hospitalised for Covid-19 will need to be placed on one of these devices, which breathes for the body and gives their already overworked lungs some rest. However, there are only so many on hand at the moment.

Dyson, the vacuum cleaning legend, has announced plans to create at least 15,000 ventilators that are up to hospital specifications.

Sir James Dyson said in a global email to staff: "The race is now on to get it into production.

Dyson

"I am proud of what Dyson engineers and our partners at TTP have achieved. I am eager to see this new device in production and in hospitals as soon as possible.

"This is clearly a time of grave international crisis, I will therefore donate 5,000 units to the international effort, 1,000 of which will go to the United Kingdom."

The UK government has already ordered 10,000 from the Dyson company.

The ventilator is named CoVent, and according to ITV, it's portable and powered by a re-engineered Dyson Digital Motor.

Sir James Dyson.
PA

Sir James added: "The device is designed to achieve a high quality air supply to ensure its safety and effectiveness, drawing on our air purifier expertise which delivers high-quality filtration in high-volume products.

"Ventilators are a regulated product so Dyson and TTP will be working with the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency] and the Government to ensure that the product and the manufacturing process is approved."

It comes after fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk delivered on his promise to start making ventilators at Tesla factories.

Californian Governor Gavin Newsom told a press conference that Musk has delivered the first batch of devices to hospitals around Los Angeles.

PA

Mr Newsom added: "I told you a few days ago that [Musk] was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week.

"They arrived in Los Angeles and Elon Musk is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real time. It's an heroic effort."

American authorities have admitted that they only have around 160,000 ventilators ready for use in hospitals, with a little less than 9,000 held in national reserve, according to Business Insider.

However, some estimates predict at least one million Americans will need a ventilator during the pandemic.

Hopefully these efforts will go a long way in helping patients over the coming weeks and months.

Featured Image Credit: Dyson

Topics: News, Coronavirus