Supermarket chain Morrisons is to give away £10 million worth of goods to food banks across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said its bakery, egg and fruit and vegetable departments will run for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the services.

It will also be sending deliveries of ambient food - such as canned goods and pasta - to local food banks via "community champions".

The move comes after food banks across the UK were forced to close or reduce hours after the virus led to a decline in volunteers and a shortage in donations.

Meanwhile Mr Potts also praised the response of the public to social distancing measures introduced at supermarkets and added staff were doing all they could to stay safe and minimise the risk of exposure in-store.

Mr Potts said: "As a food maker and shopkeeper we are uniquely placed to help.

"We know food banks are finding life very difficult and running our manufacturing sites for an extra hour each day to help restock them is the right decision at this time.

"The core purpose of all 96,537 colleagues at Morrisons is to play our full part in feeding the nation."

Mr Potts said the plan is for food to be distributed to food banks by July.

The retailer, which typically serves more than 12 million customers every week, said it also wanted to encourage customers to make donations by lifting purchase limits to four items and removing limits on some items altogether.

The supermarket has already revamped its in store cafe's as donation hubs.

Food banks are some people's only source of food, and Mr Potts said it was important for Morrisons to play their part so no-one is left behind.

Other big chains have also donated large sums to food banks and community charities, including the Co-op, which said it would donate £1.5m worth of food to the UK's largest food redistribution charity FareShare.