Mercedes engineers design breathing aid for coronavirus patients in record time

While the entire globe is dealing with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, German auto manufacturer Mercedes has joined hands with doctors as well as university engineers in London and have some up with a breathing aid for the patients who are suffering from coronavirus patients. Some of the patients suffering from coronavirus end of having breathing difficulty due to which they are put on the ventilator. The new breathing aid from the Formula One engine manufacturer can be mass produced in no time and is a new ray of hope where the need for the ventilators can be reduced.

It is known as the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) that has been made by making changes in an existing device, that too in less than 100 hours, which is remarkable. The University College London, which worked on the project released a statement and said that it has been recommended for use by the United Kingdom Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency. So far the CPAP devices have been used in the countries like China and Italy, which are one of the worst hit in the globe, to treat COVID-19 patients. Reports say that about half of the patients using the CPAP device did not need the ventilators.

Countries that are hit by the virus are facing a severe shortage of ventilators. Even Great Britain is facing a shortage of ventilators and is struggling to fight the virus. Such devices come as a ray of hope as the usage of such devices can ensure that the ventilators could be used only for the severely ill patients. The CPAP helps the airways of the patients open and also increase the amount of oxygen entering the lungs and pushes air and oxygen in to the mouth and nose constantly. About 100 of the newly designed CPAP will be used in clinical trials and will soon be rolled out in the hospitals across the country before the number of COVID-19 patients increase.

Photo Credits: Design Week