Introduction

Hand-gels, face masks, even nasal swabs – as the coronavirus spreads, health services are reporting a growing number of shortages at the moment as supplies and supply chains freeze up. Increasingly governments are calling on private companies and individuals to meet the urgent demand. Chad Butters, founder of the Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in Pennsylvania, has turned his facilities over to producing hand sanitizer for local people in need. Meanwhile Project Open Air is crowdsourcing the design of ventilators and other medical equipment, but Rich Branson, a respiratory therapist and professor at the University of Cincinnati, says we need to take care using such equipment.

(Picture: A UK hospital. Picture credit: Getty Images)