Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has said that Pakistan has become a "part of those few countries that are producing their own ventilators".

In a video message, he said that this is important because [the ventilator] is a "very complicated machine and not a lot of countries worldwide have the capacity to make this".

He added: "The first batch of ventilators is ready. We will hand over eight to 10 ventilators to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Three designs are in final stages and will be brought forward soon.

"We will fulfill our needs and will be able to export this too. I want to congratulate National Radio & Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC), scientists and engineers. When the panemic started we were not producing anything. Within a few months, we have become capable of producing our own equipment."