GM begins production of ventilators for U.S. government

General Motors Co said on Tuesday it had started producing ventilators in the volume needed to treat severely ill coronavirus patients and would deliver the first batch of the medical equipment to the U.S. government this month. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded nine contracts totaling nearly $2.6 billion to produce 137,000 ventilators by the end of 2020 for the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, including a contract to GM worth $489.4 million for 30,000 ventilators by the end of August after President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act.