Manchester City have opened up the doors to their iconic Etihad Stadium which will be used by the NHS in the battle against COVID- 19.

Health executives have accepted an offer from the Premier League champions to harness the facilities at their home ground during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Mirror, City will open up their conference rooms and executive boxes for the duration of the crisis.

City have begun ringing all their elderly fans to check in on them during the lockdown as fears continue to grow as the virus spreads across the country.

The Premier League champions have also agreed to pay their casual matchday staff for the rest of the season, which includes over 100 workers who will now be compensated for potential loss of earnings due to the suspension of the Premier League.

A temporary hospital is already being built at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, as the city prepares to enter the peak of the virus with almost unmanageable numbers of infected people needing specialised medial treatment.

It is likely that the Etihad will be used as a training base for doctors and nurses when the health crisis really takes hold with NHS hospitals all around the country suffering from a shortage in staff.

London’s Excel Centre, which is also Abu Dhabi-owned, is currently being transformed into the Nightingale Hospital which will be equipped with ventilators and oxygen for COVID- 19 patients.

Temporary hospitals are also being opened in Birmingham and Cardiff as the number of infected people continue to rise at an alarming rate.

The Principality Stadium in Cardiff is also being opened to help deal with the crisis, just two weeks after it was scheduled to host Wales’ Six Nations Rugby match against Scotland.

The stadium is set to be converted into an emergency hospital with room for over 2000 beds.

Len Richards, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said on Friday: “The facility will allow us to free up capacity at our other hospital sites so that we can continue to provide services to patients with other health conditions.”