The new Nightingale hospital in London's ExCeL Centre will create the extra capacity needed because the number of people being hospitalised is "bound to increase," National Health Service CEO Simon Stevens told the BBC.

Two more temporary hospitals are to be built in Birmingham and Manchester and NHS England said other sites were being considered across the UK.

The Ministry of Defence has been helping set up the temporary hospital, which will have up to 5,000 beds in the building, which is usually a convention and exhibition centre.