Innovative medical staff are turning to snorkelling masks from sports stores to stop patients' lungs from collapsing as hospitals face an overload of Covid-19 patients struggling to breathe.

"They are to be used for patients with severe respiratory problems. The aim is to avoid having to intubate the trachea of the patient and put them on a respirator," said Frederic Bonnier, a respiratory physiotherapist at a Belgium hospital that will start trials for the masks from Monday.

The snorkelling mask solution could be a stop-gap measure for patients on the brink of intensive-care treatment but for whom no beds nor respirators are available.

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