Boris Johnson has warned the public to brace for the “worst public health crisis in a generation” as he stepped up coronavirus preparations this evening.
Anyone with a new persistent cough or high temperature is now advised to self-isolate for seven days and school trips abroad will be banned, under the UK Government’s virus action plan.
Older people and those with pre-existing health conditions have also been told not to go on cruises.
Announcing the measures after an emergency Cobra meeting, Mr Johnson said: “Some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas that is not right. Owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous.
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“It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public: many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.”
Mr Johnson warned that the most dangerous period is still some weeks away as he stressed that the “lines of defence” must be deployed at the right time to maximise their effect.
He said: “The most important task will be to protect our elderly and most vulnerable people during the peak weeks when there is the maximum risk of exposure to the disease and when the NHS will be under the most pressure.
“So the most dangerous period is not now but some weeks away depending on how fast it spreads.”
Mr Johnson stressed the more “draconian” measures, such as banning sporting events and closing schools, must not be triggered too early.
“You need to make sure that you move that period where we’re asking older people, vulnerable people, to go through a pretty difficult period of isolation and we time it so as to coincide with the moment when they are at most risk of exposure to the illness,” he said.
“That’s one of the reasons why we are not triggering that draconian measure now.”
The measures came as two more deaths were announced in British hospitals, bringing the total to 10, and the number of people who had tested positive for coronavirus reached almost 600.
Mr Johnson’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned that while the official infection figure was in the mid hundreds, scientific modelling has shown it could be as high as 10,000.
“There are currently 590 cases that have been identified in the UK and there are more than 20 patients in intensive care units. If you calculate what that really means in terms of the total number, it is much more likely that we have between 5,000 and 10,000 people infected at the moment”, he said.
The delay phase of the UK Government’s plan aims to lower the peak impact of the virus and push it away from the winter season – when pressures on the NHS are more acute because of issues including seasonal flu.
Delaying the outbreak’s impact could also buy time for the testing of drugs and development of vaccines and/or improved therapies or tests to help reduce the impact of the disease.
Meanwhile in Washington, Donald Trump dramatically escalated the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, slapping a travel ban on continental Europe.
The suspension of travel between the United States and Europe, excluding the UK and Ireland, will last for 30 days starting on Friday and has been widely criticised.
Within the UK Government a Cabinet minister, who has not been named, was self-isolating while awaiting a test result after coming into contact with health minister Nadine Dorries.
Ms Dorries is self-isolating at home after being diagnosed with the illness.
Fellow health minister Edward Argar is also self-isolating at home “as a precaution” after having lunch with Ms Dorries on Thursday, the day she started to feel unwell.
In a sign of increased concern about the virus, data published on Thursday suggests the NHS 111 system is coming under increasing pressure.
There were 1.6 million calls to NHS 111 in England in February, an average of 56,000 a day.
