Ventilator built by F1 and Airbus to treat Covid-19 patients approved

Hundreds of Penlon Prima ESO2 ventilators to treat patients with severe symptoms of coronavirus have now been approved in the UK.

This updated version of an existing model will be available for the NHS next week, with 1,500 to be made each week by the start of May.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said they need to increase ventilator stocks from 10,000 to 18,000.

The government said on Thursday, they have ordered 15,000, following the approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove said this shows “the significant progress being made” after manufacturers were asked to help with production.

Dick Elsy, chair of the Ventilator Challenge UK consortium who are making the device, said it had undergone “stringent testing and clinical trials for the last two weeks.”

“Ventilators of this type are complex and critical pieces of medical equipment, so ensuring the absolute adherence to regulatory standards and meeting clinical needs were always our priorities.”

Airbus, GKN, Ford and a number of F1 teams worked with Penlon, a medical device maker, to adapt its ventilator so that it could be mass-produced at speed, which would normally only make up to 60 a week.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) director, warns that Europe and the US could face another three more waves of coronavirus.

Professor Lawrence Gostin of public health at Johns Hopkins University, said that the world’s “interconnected society” means that more coronavirus outbreaks will happen.

Professor Gostin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, “Covid-19 is about to march through subsaharan Africa and perhaps the Indian subcontinent like an avalanche.

“Even if the United States and Europe were to get their Covid epidemics under control, if you’ve got Covid raging in other parts of the world, in this interconnected society it will come back to Europe and the United States.”

he UK’s Health Minister Nadine Dorries said the UK will remain in a “full lockdown” until a vaccine has been made, which could be up to 18 months away.

In a very unusual break away from Downing Streets official line, Dorries has placed the government into chaos as the lockdown will not be lifted until the end of 2021.