Dyson to provide 10,000 ventilators for the NHS

Billionaire Sir James Dyson has said he has received an order from the government for 10,000 ventilators to help the NHS tackle coronavirus.

At the request of Boris Johnson, the company has designed the “CoVent” and will donate 5,000 to the international effort.

Sir James said they received the call 10 days ago and his engineers have been working around the clock on the design.

Sir James said, “We have received an initial order of 10,000 units from the UK Government, which we will supply on an open-book basis.

“We are also looking at ways of making it available internationally.”

Created in partnership with Cambridge-based science engineering firm TTP, the new Dyson CoVent has to be safe, efficient and effective in conserving oxygen and portable, he said.

The new CoVent will be battery powered and will not require a fixed air supply and can be used in field hospitals.The new ventilator draws on Dyson’s current technology from the company’s air purifier and powered by a digital motor.

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

He added, “Ventilators are a regulated product so Dyson and TTP will be working with the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory products Agency and the Government to ensure that the product and the manufacturing process is approved.”

The lockdown enforced by the government could prevent the outbreak from becoming a growing epidemic, to one that will decline.