(CNN) The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it will spend $75.5 million in Defense Production Act Title 3 funding to ramp up production of swabs needed for coronavirus testing. The company is also adding 150 employees to staff the new factory, which will start production in May. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump announced Sunday he will compel a US company to make swabs under the Defense Production Act. Peter Navarro, his trade adviser who Trump tapped to coordinate DPA use, clarified to CNN Monday that the White House plans to use the act to give Puritan Medical Supplies federal funding to boost production. "It underscores the many and varied uses of DPA authorities to secure our supply chain and onshore production of critical resources in our public health industrial base."

Source: CNN April 30, 2020 01:07 UTC