As the motoring world rallies to support various health organisations with the battle against Coronavirus spread, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has chipped in with some aid of his own.
The outspoken tech entrepreneur has reportedly donated 1255 ventilators to Los Angeles hospitals as the virus ramps up in the United States.
Musk's effort follows the announcements that General Motors would help with the production of similar ventilators, and Ford would repurpose some its its existing tech in order to build respirators.
Addressing #COVID19 is a group effort. We are grateful for the discussion with @ElonMusk and @Tesla as we work across industries to solve problems and get patients and hospitals the tools they need to continue saving lives. We're all in this together. https://t.co/MdZ3u8k2nR
— Medtronic (@Medtronic) March 21, 2020
California Governor Gavin Newsom is among those grateful for the gesture.
"I told you a few days ago he was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week,” he said.
“They arrived in Los Angeles and Elon Musk is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real time. It’s [a] heroic effort.”
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The machines donated are surplus units from China that are no longer required, although Musk has since said that if more are needed in the US factories like Tesla's can build them instantly.
Musk's attitudes to the virus had attracted criticism previously; the CEO having said that panic around the virus spread is "dumb", and that kids are "basically immune" to Covid-19.
As of earlier today, the United States has over 65,000 Coronavirus cases, and 931 deaths. New Zealand meanwhile has 283 known cases, and zero deaths.