The public has relied on a number of key individuals to keep them informed of developments in the spread of the coronavirus, including doctors, epidemiologists, researchers and health officials. Here are five of the main players who have helped to restore British faith in the value of experts.

• Chris Whitty. England’s chief medical officer, took up his post only a few months ago but has acted with calm authority throughout his public appearances since coronavirus emerged as a global health threat. A former epidemiologist, Whitty was appointed professor of public and international health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the post he held before becoming chief medical officer. He has warned the country that it should prepare to face disruption to many normal activities “for quite a long period”.

• Trudie Lang, professor of global health research at Oxford University, has been consistent in warning that the medical profession needs to learn lessons from the current coronavirus outbreak. “This is not going to be the last outbreak of a previously unknown disease and we have to strengthen the research capabilities of nations where new diseases emerge but which currently have the poorest ability to respond,” she has argued.

• David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at LSHTM, is another veteran of global disease outbreaks having worked in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Malawi, and more latterly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he participated in the response to the first, second and third outbreaks of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. “Transmissibility in the community is not yet fully understood – terms such as pandemic are distracting. What is necessary is to understand the current situation in each country,” he has warned.

• Tom Wingfield, who is based at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, is a clinician and an expert on infectious diseases who has worked in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. He is measured in his response to the current outbreak. “The UK public can be reassured that we have experienced teams in place to manage the isolation and care of people diagnosed with coronavirus and perform robust tracing and screening of their contacts,” he has said.

• John Edmunds, professor of infectious disease modelling at LSHTM, has warned that the disease could become widespread in the UK. “It doesn’t mean to say that everybody is going to be seriously ill,” he has added. “The vast majority would have mild illness, a cough and a cold, then recover and be perfectly well.”