The government ordered a large number of ventilators at the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic because “we wanted to avoid a situation seen in several Western countries where doctors had to select patients to put on a ventilator, determining who could live and who should die”, foreign ministry state secretary Tamás Menczer told public television. Contingency plans called for the purchase of 10,000 ventilators but more were ordered to be on the safe side, he said, adding that the government had spent 300 billion forints (EUR 851m). Anything surplus to Hungary’s needs will be resold. Some countries in Africa and Asia have indicated their interest in buying, he added.