Apr. 12. 2020

One of the most worrying symptoms of COVID-19 is the way the coronavirus attacks the lungs of those infected. This means some patients need a ventilator to help them breathe until their lungs recover. But there is a dire shortage of these machines in hospitals, so intensive-care units will be overwhelmed.

So what chance do science and industry have of dramatically ramping up production?

Existing producers are stretching themselves. Hamilton Medical, a Swiss firm that is one of the biggest manufacturers of ventilators, usually turns out 220 machines a week and hopes to double that by the end of April Siare Engineering in Italy produces 160 ventilators a month and aims to triple that with the help of army technicians.

A number of industry groups have got together in response to a request by the Brithis government for 5.000 new ventilators as soon as possible. One group is led by Meggitt, and aerospace firm based in Britain that among other things also makes oxygen systems for aircraft. Another group is led by McLaren, a super-car-maker that runs a Formula 1 team. Like others involved in motorsport, McLaren is expert at prototyping and manufacturing things rapidly.

Other firms are getting involved. Dyson, a British maker of vacuum cleaners, says it has a potential order for 10,000 versions of a ventilator it has developed.

Lots of academics are helping. Engineers and doctors from the University of Oxford and King’s College London hope to have prototypes of a simple ventilator that would cost less than￡1,000 approved and working in trials at hospitals in London and Oxford in about two weeks.