UK nowhere near running out of ventilators: senior medic

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam speaks during a Covid-19 Digital Press Conference in 10 Downing Street in London, Britain April 3, 2020. Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street/Handout via REUTERS

Britain is not "anywhere close" to the scenario of running out of ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients at the peak of the spread of the virus, England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Friday.

Asked during a news conference whether the health service would have enough ventilators for those who will need critical care at the peak of the outbreak, Van-Tam said: "I don’t think we are anywhere close to that kind of scenario at the moment."

(Reporting by William James, Andy Bruce and Kylie MacLellan, editing by Estelle Shirbon)