LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it would end support for four projects designed to boost the number of ventilators available in the battle against coronavirus, as it backs eleven other devices.
“This selection criteria… takes into account projections for ventilator demand, the availability of other devices which already have regulatory approval, the performance and clinical usefulness of each device and the progress to date on each device’s overall development,” the government said.
There are nearly 11,000 of the mechanical breathing apparatus available to the publicly-funded health service with a consortium of firms including McLaren, Airbus and Ford working to fulfill a government order.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by William James)
