The supermarket giant has already started construction on its first dedicated NHS Nightingale Hospital pop-up store at the NEC in Birmingham.

It is in discussions with other temporary hospital sites, including those at London’s ExCeL centre, Manchester and Harrogate.

Details of the plans emerged after Tesco revealed it had signed up to SalutetheNHS.org, an alliance of businesses that aims to deliver meals to NHS staff on the front line battling coronavirus.