London: English Premier League champion Manchester City has offered the National Health Service (NHS) free use of the Etihad Stadium to train doctors and nurses to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The City is understood to have offered the stadium's executive boxes and conference rooms to help the NHS with the training of doctors and nurses during the pandemic.
To contain the spread of the virus, the English football season has been suspended till April 30. Many clubs are allowing the use of their facilities to combat the highly contagious virus.
Currently, 10,000 people are being tested for coronavirus daily, with the government hoping to increase this to 25,000 a day. Healthcare and social care workers are "first in line" for those tests, Gove added.
Etihad Stadium at nation's service to tackle COVID-19 crisis in England. More than 1,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK as of 27 March, and more than 17,000 have tested positive for the virus, according to figures from the Department of Health and Social Care.
Last week, local rivals Manchester United joined City in donating a combined 1,00,000 pound to local food banks in a bid to support them through the coronavirus crisis.
Conference room at Etihad Stadium. "We are proud of the role our supporters play in helping local food banks and recognise the increased strain likely to be placed on these charities by the impact of coronavirus," the two Premier League giants said in a joint statement.
Executive boxes at Etihad Stadium Spanish club Real Madrid had also allowed its home stadium Santiago Bernabeu to be used as a makeshift storage facility for strategic medical supplies in the battle against COVID-19 pandemic.
