Interiors of London's new emergency hospital

Construction is well underway on a new 4,000 bed hospital in London as the UK expands its health service in an attempt to cope with the amount of people expected to be affected by the coronavirus.

The ExCeL Centre in London has been turned into the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospital and is due to open later this week.

Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said the NHS was "working hard" to make sure it was as ready as it possibly could be to combat the global pandemic.

She added the NHS was building two further temporary hospitals in Manchester and in Birmingham to help deal with the expected patient load.

However, Dr Alan McGlennan, Medical Director of the Royal Free Hospital, warned the new hospital was for referrals only and "did not have a front door" for people to just turn up.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.