Britain has ordered 10,000 medical ventilators designed at breakneck speed by vacuum cleaner-maker Dyson, billionaire founder James Dyson said, as the country tries to boost the number of devices available to treat coronavirus patients.
The government, in anticipation of cases peaking in Britain in coming weeks, had made an urgent appeal to manufacturers to supply the National Health Service and would also use devices from private hospitals and other sources.
"We have received an initial order of 10,000 units from the UK Government which we will supply on an open-book basis," James Dyson said on Wednesday in an email to staff seen by Reuters.
"We are also looking at ways of making it available internationally."
In related newsa the Independent reported that new 15-minute home test kits for coronavirus would be made available to the British public within days. This, according to a Public Health England (PHE) director.
Thousands of tests will be sold in drug stores or delivered by Amazon to people with symptoms who are self-isolating. The Independent said that could begin as soon as next week.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said the government bought millions of the tests on Tuesday and is ordering millions more. These antibody tests call for pricking a finger and analyzing a drop of blood in a device that the outlet said resembles a pregnancy test.
One limitation of the quick tests: It will only tell the person if they have had the virus, not if they currently have it.
Saud the Independent, only patients admitted to a hospital are being routinely tested for COVID-19. Up to 6,000 people are being tested a day, but the government plans to increase this to 25,000 daily over the next month or so.