THE government has pledged an "unprecedented" amount of cash to help businesses and public services cope with coronavirus.

Speaking in his daily briefing, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the government will make available a £330billion package of guarantees for businesses.

This, according to the chancellor, is the equivalent to 15 per cent of UK Gross Domestic Product.

Speaking at the second daily briefing from No. 10, he said: "If demand is greater, I will go further and provide as much capacity as required"

He added the Government will "be bold" in its support for the economy, saying: "This struggle will not be overcome by a single package of measures or isolated interventions.

"It will be won through a collective national effort, every one of us doing all we can to protect family, neighbours, friends, jobs.

"This national effort will be underpinned by Government interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago."

Boris Johnson has said the Government will do "whatever it takes" to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak.

"We must act like a wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy," he told a Downing Street press conference.

"We support millions of businesses and tens of millions families and individuals through coming months.

"The Government must and will act with a profound sense of urgency."

To support lending to small and medium sized businesses, the government is also extending the new business interruption loan scheme announced in last week's budget so that rather than loans of £1.2 million, it will now provide loans of up to £5 million with no interest due for the first six months.

Mr Sunak said both of these schemes will be up and running by the start of next week.