Defense company Babcock has announced that it will be producing 10,000 ventilators to assist in addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement from Babcock that it will manufacture 10,000 ventilators to help fight the coronavirus outbreak comes after Dyson said it received an order for 10,000 ventilators from the government.
The devices from both Babcock and Dyson will need to pass strict medical tests before they can be deployed.
In a statement, Babcock said that it had "responded quickly to the UK Prime Minister's UK Ventilator Challenge".
The defense firm explained: "We are proud to have been awarded a contract by the Cabinet Office to manufacture 10,000 Zephyr Plus ventilators, subject to regulatory approvals; a product being developed in collaboration with an established major international supplier of critical care ventilators. "
Currently, the National Health Service (NHS) is facing a shortage of ventilators to treat coronavirus patients with acute symptoms. These ventilators help a person breathe by getting oxygen into the lungs and removing carbon dioxide.
While Babcock did not specify where the ventilators would be manufactured, it has production sites in Scotland and southwest England.
Apple will make face shields
Tech giant Apple announced on Sunday that it has designed and will manufacture face shields for medical workers. In a tweet, Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook said the firm will be making the protective gear.
The tech firm plans to produce over one million face shields weekly, which will first be shipped to the US and then distributed worldwide. Apple will also be donating 20 million face masks which it sourced to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Cook tweeted: "Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers."
In the video that came with the tweet, Cook said: "This is a truly global effort, and we're working continuously and closely with governments at all levels to ensure these are donated to places of greatest need."
Apple solicited contributions from designers, engineers and suppliers to shape, produce and ship the face shields. Materials used in the face shields were sourced from both the US and China.
According to Cook, the first shipment of the plastic face shields, which can be assembled in less than two minutes, was delivered last week to some hospitals in Silicon Valley.
Cook explained: "In both these efforts, out focus is on unique ways Apple can help, meeting essential needs of caregivers urgently and at a scale the circumstances require. For Apple, this is a labor of love and gratitude, and we will share more of our efforts over time."
Last week, tech company Bloom Energy repaired 170 broken ventilators in California after transforming its manufacturing process. The broken ventilators have been in storage since the H5N1 bird flu outbreak of the mid-2000s. The tech firm is currently looking for other stockpiles of disused machines to repair.
Bloom Energy chief executive KR Sridhar said: "We think we can do hundreds of ventilators – close to 1,000 ventilators – a week of refurbishment. This is the fastest way – we can take existing ventilators that are out there, get them working, get them back to the hospitals."
