Britain's National Health Service (NHS) will have more ventilators and thousands of extra beds and healthcare staff on hand to fight coronavirus from next week after striking a deal with the independent hospital sector.

Key points: The deal will see an extra 8,000 hospital beds made available across England

The deal will see an extra 8,000 hospital beds made available across England Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will join the NHS's fight against the pandemic

Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will join the NHS's fight against the pandemic At least 179 patients have died in the UK after testing positive to COVID-19

NHS England said nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff would join the health service's response to the pandemic, helping to manage an expected surge in cases.

"Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate practically its entire national hospital capacity en bloc to the NHS," Health Minister Matt Hancock said.

At least 179 patients have died in the UK after testing positive for COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The deal includes the provision of 8,000 hospital beds across England, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, more than 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff.

In London it includes more than 2,000 hospital beds and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds.

The extra resources secured by the NHS will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the health service deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments.

'More than enough food to go around'

Some supermarkets in London had set up special queuing zones and extra guards. ( AP: Dominic Lipinski )

The UK Government has meanwhile told people who are panic-buying to calm down, pointing to a video on social media showing an exhausted nurse driven to tears by finding shelves bare after her long shift.

Shoppers have been emptying the shelves in many supermarkets over the past week, with some wrestling over toilet rolls and others hoarding everything from pasta to frozen peas.

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One billion pounds ($2 billion) of extra food has been purchased over the past three weeks, putting massive pressure on supermarkets, Environment and Food Minister George Eustice said.

At a news briefing, he urged people to "be responsible when you shop and think of others".

"There is more than enough food to go around and our food supply chain is able to expand production to cope with increased demand," he said.

"Buying more than you need means that others may be left without, and it is making life more difficult for those frontline workers such as our doctors and nurses and NHS support staff."

Despite such appeals, shelves of meat, pasta, tinned goods and toilet paper were empty in some London supermarkets on Saturday. Some had brought in extra guards and set up special queuing zones.

The Government has set aside rules restricting deliveries to supermarkets to help stores cope with the increased demand.

It has also set aside competition rules so supermarkets can share staff and delivery vehicles and coordinate opening times to ensure every part of the UK is properly supplied.

Reuters