NHS given 20,000 extra staff and thousands of beds & ventilators from private hospitals to fight coronavirus

The NHS has struck a deal with private hospitals to recruit nearly 20,000 staff to help out with other urgent operations and cancer treatments.

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There will also be 8,000 hospital beds provided across England and nearly 1,200 more ventilators along with the 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens hailed the deal with the private sector, saying: "We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up.

"The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity and is working with partners right across the country to do so."

There are fears the NHS will buckle trying to curb the spread of coronavirus - with the death toll in Britain today rising to 178 and cases reaching at least 4,145.

"This is all our problem and if we do it together, it will be an effective strategy.

"If you do it, you follow the advice, you will be saving somebody's life.

"This is the time in your lifetime whereby your action can save somebody's life. It is as simple and as stark as that."