Brazil’s health minister said on Wednesday that the country’s attempts to purchase thousands of ventilators from China to fight the coronavirus epidemic fell through and the government is now looking to Brazilian companies to build the devices. “Practically all our purchases of equipment in China are not being confirmed,” Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference. An attempt to buy 15,000 ventilators in China failed and Brazil was making a new bid, he said, but the outcome is uncertain in the intense competition for medical supplies in the global pandemic.
