Factory will build supplies

A Scots factory has been thrust to the forefront of the fightback against Covid-19.

Plexus, an engineering and manufacturing firm in Kelso, is making hundreds of ventilators.

Cabinet Minister Michael Gove announced yesterday that work is being scaled up at the Borders factory, which employs 400 people.

Gove said the Government was “ensuring that those patients with impaired lung function get the oxygen they need” and that units had already been bought in from Germany, Switzerland and China.

Now, UK-based companies are starting to manufacture ventilators, with the first batch already rolling off the production line.

Heavy duty units – partmade by Rolls-Royce – are ready to be distributed to hospitals from an MoD base in Shropshire.

Gove added: “Next week, there will be UK production of another ventilator device from the companies Diamedica, in Devon, and Plexus.”

Plexus employ 19,000 workers around the world and have a second smaller plant in Livingston, which received a £1.07million grant from the Scottish Enterprise last year.

The Scottish Government said: “The machines being manufactured in Kelso are for a UK-wide procurement.”

Council halt visor project

A group of teachers praised for making coronavirus protection visors for NHS staff has been ordered to stop by council officials.

The team had been creating the equipment on school 3D printers in response to huge demand from hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies.

But it’s understood that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde raised concerns over their efficacy. Glasgow City Council said: “We want to help NHS workers – however, in a safe and responsible way.”