With ventilator and other life-saving kit in dire need, some of the world’s best engineers are racing to help.
In the war on Covid-19 one Israeli factory has stopped making missiles to mass produce the much-needed ventilators.
Necessity is breeding innovation in the auto industry too.
During World War II US giant Ford shifted its focus from cars to machines of war.
For this global conflict it's pledging to produce 50,000 ventilators within 100 days.
The Ford model operates on air pressure alone, without the need for electricity.
Tesla too, driven by innovator-in-chief Elon Musk saying he'll make and deliver the vital units to America's hospitals free of charge.
And in the race to supply Australia's hospitals with potentially life saving kit, Australian Supercar team Triple Eight designed and built a simple ventilator in just 10 days.
Not to be outpaced, Formula 1's Mercedes team came up with a breathing aid designed to keep patients out of intensive care, without the need for ICU specialists.
"So normally medical device development would take years, and in this instance we've been able to do it in days because we've cleverly thought about how we can go back to existing devices and models, reverse engineer them and then engage with our industry partners to manufacture them at scale," says Professor of Healthcare Engineering at University college London, Rebecca Shipley.
Czech engineers are taking the plunge too, transforming low-cost snorkel masks into high-grade protection for medical workers by adding military-grade filters to the breathing tubes.
SHARE ME