The first 48-walk-out by junior doctors is underway amid fears they could stage a wave of strikes that will continue until the summer.
More than 5,000 patients have had their operations cancelled ahead of the latest protest, which started at 8am.
The new cancellations bring the total number of operations postponed ahead of strike days to more than 19,000 since the British Medical Association (BMA) began industrial action.
Health officials say the series of two-day strikes already earmarked for the next two months will be far more damaging than the 24-hour stoppages which took place in January and February.
They are worried hospitals will run out of beds because junior doctors who would normally discharge patients are out on picket lines.
Juniors doctors at a picket line outside St Thomas Hospital in London strike and protest over the new contract being implemented by the Government
Junior doctors and supporters hold placards during a strike outside St Thomas' Hospital in London in the first of planned 48-hour walk-outs
Junior doctors hold placards saying 'Save Our NHS' in the rain outside St Thomas Hospital in London
The row centres on a controversial new contract the Government has already begun to impose, which will see medics working more weekend and evening shifts.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt forced through the change last month, although doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) opposed several key clauses.
The union vowed doctors would 'vote with their feet' and 'consider all options', including a total withdrawal of care.
Sources say they will not give up until they have Mr Hunt's scalp – and will claim victory if he is moved during an expected Cabinet reshuffle after the EU referendum in June.
Today's strike started at 8am and junior doctors will only turn up to work if they are treating emergency patients, in A&E, maternity or intensive care wards.
Outside the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, passing motorists beeped their horns in support.
A woman holds a sign saying 98 per cent of junior doctors voted for action and offering to explain why, outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading today
NHS workers strike outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary at the start of a 48-hour walk out by junior doctors in their continued row with the government over new contracts
Junior doctors at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, on the first 48-hour strike which started at 8am
Junior doctors strike outside Leeds General Infirmary over proposed changes to their contracts although their numbers are significantly diminished in comparison with their first walk out
Poor weather is said to have caused fewer to turn out today in support of junior doctors strikes
Junior doctors hold placards asking for answers outside Leeds General Infirmary over changes to their contracts being implemented by health secretary Jeremy Hunt
A further 5000 patients have had their operations cancelled ahead of today's 48-hour walk out by junior doctors, pictured here outside Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham
Orthopaedic registrar Christopher Gee said morale across the NHS was now at 'an all-time low' amid uncertainty over the future of the NHS.
'It is very frustrating. Doctors feel they have been backed into a corner,' he said.
'We all very conclusively believe we have no other choice but to strike. We are trying to do everything we can to get the Government to listen.
'The junior doctors' contract is a significant patient safety issue. There is a recruitment crisis in the NHS - doctors and nurses are already stretched.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, pictured leaving 10 Downing Street yesterday, said he would impose the contract last month
'Trying to stretch services further when there hasn't been any proper planning is essentially dangerous for patients.'
An estimated 20,000 patients will have had their operations cancelled as a result of this strike and the previous two 24–hour walk outs in January and February.
New figures from NHS England from 228 organisations, of which 154 are acute hospital trusts, show that 2,077 inpatient procedures have been cancelled due to today and tomorrow's industrial action alongside 3,187 day case operations and procedures.
Hundreds more routine clinics and appointments are likely to be affected.
Two other 48-hour strikes have so far been confirmed for next month, starting on Wednesday April 6, and Tuesday April 26.
Dr Anne Rainsberry, national incident director for NHS England, said: 'This is clearly going to be a difficult couple of days.
'A 48–hour strike will put significantly more pressure on the NHS and the cumulative effect of these recurring strikes is likely to take a toll.'
The third strike by the BMA comes as an Ipsos MORI poll for BBC News found 65 per cent of members of the public support the doctors' cause.
The survey found most people still think the Government is most at fault for the dispute, but a rising number believe equal blame should be shared by the Government and doctors' leaders.
Public support for the latest strike is as high as it was for the first two stoppages earlier this year, with 65 per cent of 860 adults in England supporting the strike.
Some 57 per cent said the Government was most at fault for the dispute continuing this long, down from 64 per cent in February, while the number saying junior doctors were most at fault remained around 11 per cent.
The Green Party has also offered its support to striking doctors and labelled Mr Hunt as 'a hypocrite'.
Its health spokesman, Larry Sanders, who is the brother of US presidential hopeful Bernie, said: 'The hypocrisy of Jeremy Hunt announcing that he was imposing a contract on junior doctors exactly one year after he 'called time on NHS bullying' is astounding.
Junior Doctors on strike outside The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on Wednesday morning amid fears the protests could last until summer
Protesters appeal for support after a poll found 65 per cent of the public were supporting junior doctors
A Department of Health spokesman said the strike was 'irresponsible and unjustified'. Pictured are junior doctors striking outside the Royal Berkshire
'Those junior doctors are essential to a functioning NHS and they will go on to become leaders of the service. They need to be treated with the respect that they deserve.
'It is clear to all that Jeremy Hunt's agenda is to destroy the NHS and to pass it into private hands supported by an insurance scheme. He has gone on record with these views and he is therefore not a fit person to be in charge of the NHS.'
But a Department of Health spokesman described the strike as 'irresponsible' and 'unjustified'.
He said: 'The new contract, 90 per cent of which was agreed with the BMA, and endorsed by senior NHS leaders, is a very good deal for doctors and the NHS.'
But Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said: 'We deeply regret disruption to patients, and have given trusts as much notice as possible to plan ahead, but the Government has left junior doctors with no choice.'
A spokesman for the Royal College of Radiologists, representing doctors who detect and treat cancer, said: 'We remain deeply concerned about the impact on patients of the continuing dispute between the Department of Health and junior doctors.'
Junior doctors have insisted the proposed contract from the Department of Health is unfair for them and unsafe for patients
Doctors last walked out on February 10. A failure to resolve the dispute after that action led to Jeremy Hunt announcing the new contract would be imposed
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