The reduction in the ventilator requirements (from 30K) might be due in part to the 10,000 CPAP devices that have been produced by Mercedes and UCL, that force increased oxygen into patients' lungs as well as fewer than anticipated presenters to ICU (at the moment). Part of the reason why the number of ventilators is not closer to the 18,000 requirement is because the regulators haven't approved 4 designs from organisations including Dyson. Obviously, it would have helped to try to source appropriate ventilators sooner.