On Tuesday, the NHS appealed for volunteers to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. They wanted people to help with delivering medicines from pharmacies, driving patients to and from hospital appointments or making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home.
They hoped for around 250,000 volunteers to help up to 1.5 million people who have been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions.
Now it has emerged that some 750,000 Brits have signed to be NHS volunteers – three times the government’s initial call. So many have applied, in fact, that the NHS have been forced to close registration.