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* UK orders 10,000 ventilators from consortium
* Production to begin this week
* Consortium includes Airbus, BAE, Ford and F1 teams
(Adds background)
By Kate Holton
LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Britain has ordered 10,000
ventilators from a consortium of leading aerospace, engineering
and Formula One racing companies which will start production
this week in response to an urgent government call for industry
to help save lives.
The 27-strong team, including Airbus, BAE Systems
, Ford and Rolls-Royce, have joined forces
to ramp up production of a ventilator made by Smiths Group
which supports those with complications from COVID-19.
The consortium, which also includes seven Formula One teams
including McLaren and Mercedes, home to World Champion Lewis
Hamilton, said they had pulled staff off existing projects to
meet the national need.
Some 1,228 people have died from coronavirus in the United
Kingdom and a senior health official said on Saturday the
country would be doing well if it manages to keep the death toll
below 20,000.
"This consortium brings together some of the most innovative
companies in the world," Dick Elsy, the head of the consortium,
said in a statement. "I am confident this consortium has the
skills and tools to make a difference and save lives."
The United Kingdom, which initially only had 5,000
ventilators available in its National Health Service, has been
trying to secure additional supplies after realising it needed
30,000 to cope with the peak of the outbreak.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is now in isolation in
Downing Street after testing positive for coronavirus, made an
emergency appeal earlier this month for manufacturers to retool
their production lines and start making specialist health
equipment including ventilators.
Britain now has about 8,000 ventilators, with another 8,000
on order from international manufacturers that are due in coming
weeks. Last week it placed an order for a newly-designed model
from the vacuum cleaner company Dyson that will need to be
approved by the health regulator.
Separately on Monday a second team including Mercedes
Formula One said it had developed in less than a week a new
version of a breathing aid that can help coronavirus patients
which is now being trialled in hospitals.
VENTILATOR SCRAMBLE
The consortium, which was asked in mid-March to come up with
a way to retool factories that produce everything from aircraft
engines to the world's fastest racing cars, did not say when the
ventilators would be ready for use in hospitals.
Reuters reported last week that the consortium was ready to
start building ventilators and was waiting for the green light
from government to start production.
Smiths Group said the team would ramp up production of its
Smiths Medical paraPAC plus, a lightweight and portable
ventilator that helps take the strain from the lungs. The device
is fully certified and used by medical professionals within
Britain and overseas.
The company is also working with governments and
manufacturing teams around the world.
"It is inspiring to work with the very best UK Technology
and Engineering companies with a spirit of grit and
determination to deliver these life saving devices to our
incredible health service," Chief Executive Andrew Reynolds
Smith said.
The consortium is also building another ventilator from
existing producer Penlon.
Nadhim Zahawi, the minister for business and industry, said
more than 3,000 companies had answered the prime minister's call
for ventilator production.
"Their help will be vital as we make our way through this
turbulent period."
(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan)
