The British government is asking manufacturers including Ford and Rolls-Royce to make ventilators for coronavirus patients.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to hold a conference call with industry leaders on Monday about turning over some of their production to essential medical equipment, the prime minister's office said. The government has also set up a telephone hotline for businesses with expertise in making ventilators to call if they can help out.

"We are facing what is an unprecedented situation and that is going to require an unprecedented response," said Johnson's spokesman, James Slack.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the U.K. had about 5,000 ventilators but would need "many times more than that."

"We're saying that if you produce a ventilator, then we will buy it," Hancock told Sky News. "No number is too high and we are working with companies, we have been working with them for some time both to buy ventilators that are available but also to switch over production to ventilators."