Private hospitals will provide more than 100,000 health professionals and 34,000 beds to help deal with the COVID-19 crisis, in a move that effectively puts all hospital beds under a single partnership.

More than 34,000 extra hospital beds will be available to help Australia deal with the coronavirus pandemic under a new deal struck with the private sector.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the deal was a “very significant stride” in increasing the system’s capacity while guaranteeing the viability of all 657 private hospitals.

Mr Hunt said the private sector had agreed to be fully flexible in what it could offer.