The first ventilators made to a new prototype designed to help the fight against Covid-18 could begin appearing in hospitals next week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.L
ast week Boris Johnson led an impassioned plea for manufacturers to turn their skills to producing ventilators to help increase the countries capacity of the life-saving tool.
Britain is believed to have had around 7,000 ventilators, which are used to support people who develop pneumonia while fighting the virus, before the crisis started.
But NHS chiefs warned that as the virus takes hold many more would be needed.
But this morning Mr Hancock said that "more than half a dozen companies have already made one in prototype, to check with us that we are happy with the quality."
He added that he hoped the new ventilators would be approved for use in hospitals by the end of next week.
"I would be surprised if it was longer than then," he said.
British companies have formed three teams, led by aerospace engineer Meggitt and carmakers McLaren and Nissan to pursue the rapid production of ventilators.
European planemaker Airbus has offered help with 3D technology and facilities if other companies need it.
"It's unbelievable. In a matter of days some of these top engineering companies have already turned their hand to this effort and already got their prototypes out," Mr Hancock said.
"We need as many as you can possibly make and we will buy them."
But the scale of the production is yet to be seen with manufacurers earlier this week warning that they were yet to receive a "detailed blueprint" of what the government needed.
