It has 12,000, up from 5,000, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced.

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The extra devices have been bought or borrowed from private hospitals.

Engineering companies have also been asked to help build them.

Also, 7,563 former doctors and nurses have answered the call to rejoin the NHS, the minister told the Commons.

The Health Secretary said: “These are difficult times and they have risen to the call of the nation's needs and we know that many more will join them.”

Ventilators help severely ill patients to breathe when their lungs are damaged by pneumonia, caused by the coronavirus.

Firms including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Nissan and JCB are among those who have been asked to help produce up to 30,000 in as little as two weeks.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have launched a project to 3D print ventilator parts to support the battle against Covid-19.

Prof Ben Garrod, from UEA, said: “Printing off ventilator components, specialist masks and other equipment will, I'm sure, help those frontline NHS staff save lives across the country in the time ahead.”

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