London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Mar, 2020 ) :Britain on Thursday said up to 10,000 people in the UK could be infected with the novel coronavirus, as it announced new measures to slow the spread of the outbreak.

Government chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said there were 590 confirmed cases but it was "much more likely we've got somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people infected".

Britain was on a trajectory of cases "about four weeks" behind Italy and other worst-hit countries in Europe, he added.

Worldwide, the virus has so far infected more than 127,000 people and killed over 4,600, according to an AFP tally.

Vallance spoke after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the outbreak, which has so far killed 10 in Britain, "the worst public health crisis for a generation" -- and warned it would get worse.

"Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time," he told a news conference at his Downing Street office.

He announced new measures to combat the rapid spread of the virus, recommending anyone with COVID-19 symptoms stays at home for at least seven days.

Only people in hospital would be tested, he said, adding that schools will be asked to cancel foreign trips and elderly people or those in poor health were told not to go on cruise ships.

The move is designed to delay the peak of the virus to ease pressure on the state-run National Health Service, which is already stretched by winter flu outbreaks.

Lowering the peak by an estimated 20 percent by stretching it over a longer period would mean "more beds and more time for medical research... so society is better able to cope", Johnson added.

"This will help us to delay and flatten the peaks... because that is the way to minimise the suffering and minimise the impact of the disease," he said.