US to distribute ventilators to coronavirus-hit countries soon: Trump

The United States is going to have more ventilators than it needs so it will distribute ventilators to other countries, said President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Washington [US], Apr 02 : The United States is going to have more ventilators than it needs so it will distribute ventilators to other countries, said President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

"We will soon have more ventilators than we need. We're building thousands, we will fairly soon be at a point where we have far more than we can use even after we stockpile for some future catastrophe, which we hope doesn't happen," Trump said at a White House briefing Wednesday. "We are going to be distributing them, the extras around the world. We go to Italy, France, Spain which is a very hard hit."

Earlier, Trump had invoked the Defense Production Act to mandate large compes to start building ventilators, thousands of which are needed in intensive care units across the country to treat patients with lungs affected by the coronavirus.

When asked how he sees China's efforts to aid pandemic-hit countries, Trump said that he is "all for it." "I'm all for all of us helping everybody," he added.

The World Health Orgzation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 921,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 46,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

( With inputs from ANI )