An "enormous strain" has been put on the system for obtaining protective kit, education secretary has revealed.

About 84 tonnes of much needed personal protective equipment( PPE), including 400,000 gowns had been expected to arrive from Turkey on Sunday, but the government said it had been delayed.

Mr Williamson said: "I think we all recognise the enormous strain that has been placed on the whole system and we also recognise that right across the globe people are trying to get the same items of PPE from quite a limited number of suppliers.”

Mr Williamson was asked about stocks of PPE and why more was not done to get hold of more PPE in March and February.

He said: “From the first moment we were in a situation where the scientific advice was highlighting to us that we were facing a real challenge in terms of coronavirus, and this could potentially evolve into a pandemic.

"Every resource of government has been deployed to not just expanding what we need in terms of PPE, but also ventilators, and we've seen a massive growth in the number of ventilators which we have available in our hospitals."

Gavin Williamson was asked why British suppliers offering to make protective kit had not been contacted.

In response he said a billion extra PPE have been brought into the country while the Government was doing "immense work" in trying to find British suppliers.

He encouraged those suppliers who have been in contact with the Government and have "slipped through the net" to get in touch again.

He added: "We recognise this is a national endeavour and we are so incredibly grateful for so many people who are willing to step forward to make a real difference, and we certainly don't want to miss out on those opportunities."

England's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, said the UK remained an "international exemplar" of pandemic preparedness, adding there had been challenges but the government was "always looking ahead".

She said: "And I think it is important to remember that, although there may be elements of distribution problems across the UK at different times and in different places, this is a huge pull on services which we have never seen before.”

The pledge to take delivery of more protective kit came after warnings that some hospitals' intensive care units could run out of gowns this weekend.