France

French factory adapts its ventilator for the fight against coronavirus

A factory in eastern France has shifted production to make ventilators suitable for coronavirus patients. © FRANCE 24 screengrab

Video by: Karina CHABOUR

It’s all hands on deck in a factory in eastern France that typically makes a non-invasive ventilator used to treat sleep apnea. The factory’s 35 workers are now producing a version of this machine that allows coronavirus patients to be ventilated outside of intensive care units, reducing the burden on hospitals.“We are overloaded with work and we are on our feet,” one worker told FRANCE 24. “But we’re in good health, so it’s quite right that we put in the hours.”The factory’s first order was marked for Grenoble, France, with successive ones bound for Spain, Poland and Colombia.