James Dyson Designs New Ventilator In 10 Days For Coronavirus Pandemic Fight

Billionaire entrepreneur James Dyson confirmed that the United Kingdom government has ordered his brand new ventilator to treat the coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.

On Wednesday, Dyson received and order for 10,000 ventilators to support the efforts of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service to treat the exponential spread of the coronavirus. Dyson said the company had designed and built an entirely new ventilator, called the “CoVent,” since he received a call 10 days ago from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“A ventilator supports a patient who is no longer able to maintain their own airways, but sadly there is currently a significant shortage, both in the UK and other countries around the world,” Dyson wrote. “This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume.” Dyson added, saying that the new ventilator has been designed to “address the specific needs” of coronavirus patients.

Dyson’s company, which is best known for vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, said that the ventilators will be ready by April. Dyson wrote in a letter that he would donate 5,000 units to the international effort to take the pandemic head-on.

“The core challenge was how to design and deliver a new, sophisticated medical product in volume and in an extremely short space of time,” he added. “The race is now on to get it into production.”

Many healthcare workers in many parts of the world are having trouble gathering critical supplies, such as masks, gloves and ventilators, to deal with the influx of patients suffering from the highly contagious virus. Even first world countries such as the United States and countries in Europe and Asia are having this difficulty.

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Many companies are pitching in to help out the effort. These companies include Ford, which has announced that it’s working with 3M and GE Healthcare to produce medical equipment including ventilators and protective gear. GM and Tesla have also pledged to make ventilators.