The PM has unveiled drastic measures to tackle coronavirus in the UK (Picture: SWNS/PA)

Boris Johnson is to reveal harsh measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak, including banning mass gatherings and stopping people travelling to infected towns and cities.

The Government’s battle plan could also feature encouraging people to work from home, discouraging unnecessary travel and the ability to shut down schools. Other sweeping powers include allowing officials to turn away or even arrest suspected carriers at the border.

The Prime Minister is unveiling his strategy this morning following yesterday’s emergency Cobra committee meeting on the Covid-19 strain. So far 40 people have tested positive in the UK but ministers warn it could be months before the numbers peak.



At a press conference in Downing Street alongside Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, the PM said: ‘I fully understand public concern, your concern, about the global spread of the virus and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of UK cases, and that’s why keeping the country safe is the government’s overriding priority.’


To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Johnson said the UK is adopting a policy of ‘contain, delay, research, mitigate’ (Picture: Reuters)

More people could be asked to work from home if the outbreak worsens (Picture: Getty Images)

Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park conference centre in Milton Keynes after being repatriated to the UK from Wuhan, China (Picture: PA)

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Key points of the UK coronavirus plan If police lose ‘significant staff’ numbers to illness, they would ‘concentrate on responding to serious crimes and maintaining public order’.

In a ‘stretching scenario’, it is possible that up to one fifth of employees may be absent from work during peak weeks.

Everyone will face increased pressures at work, as well as potentially their own illness and caring responsibilities. Supporting staff welfare ‘will be critical’ for businesses.

The UK has stockpiles of medicines for the NHS, plus protective clothing and equipment for medical staff.

The public can help delay the spread of the virus by washing hands with soap regularly, not spreading misinformation and relying on trusted sources. They should also ensure family vaccines are up to date and check on family, friends and neighbours. They should also check Foreign Office advice before travelling abroad and be understanding of the pressures the health service is under.

The public will be asked to accept that ‘the advice for managing Covid-19 for most people will be self-isolation at home and simple over the counter medicines’.

If coronavirus becomes established, there will be a focus on essential services and helping those ‘most at risk to access the right treatment’.

During the mitigation phase, when the virus is much more widespread, ‘pressures on services and wider society may become significant and clearly noticeable’.

The Ministry of Defence will provide support as needed, including to essential services.

There will be increased Government communication with Parliament, the public and the media if the virus becomes more widespread.

All Government departments to have a lead person for coronavirus.

If the virus takes hold, social distancing strategies could include school closures, encouraging greater home working, reducing the number of large scale gatherings and closing other educational settings.

It is possible that an outbreak or pandemic of Covid-19 could come in multiple waves.

Non-urgent operations and other procedures could be cancelled, and hospital discharges monitored to free-up beds, with appropriate care in people’s homes.

Hospital worker shifts could be altered and leavers or retirees called ‘back to duty’.

Measures exist to help businesses with short-term cash flow problems.

There is a distribution strategy for sending out key medicines and equipment to NHS and social care.

This strain of coronavirus is new and people have a lack of immunity to it, meaning ‘Covid-19 has the potential to spread extensively’.

Everyone is susceptible to catching the disease and thus it is ‘more likely than not that the UK will be significantly affected’.

There could be an ‘increase in deaths arising from the outbreak, particularly among vulnerable and elderly groups’.

While most people will suffer mild to moderate symptoms, similar to seasonal flu, some will need hospital care due to pneumonia developing.

Young children can become infected and ‘suffer severe illness’, but overall the illness is less common in the under-20s.

‘Let me be absolutely clear that for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus, this will be a disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we’ve already seen.’

Setting out a strategy of ‘contain, delay, research, mitigate’, he said: ‘Lets not forget we already have a fantastic NHS, fantastic testing systems and fantastic surveillance of the spread of the disease.’

He added: ‘The plan does not set out what the Government will do it sets out the steps that we could take at the right time at the basis of the scientific advice. Out country remains extremely well prepared.’

Johnson insisted that he has been ‘shaking hands continuously’ including at a hospital he believed contained coronavirus patients.

He added: I continue to shake hands and I think it’s very important. People can make up their own minds.’

Re-emphasising the current golden rule of coronavirus prevention, Johnson said: ‘Forgive me for repeating this but there will be people tuning into this for the first time, wash your hands with soap and hot water, for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice, it’s simple advice but it’s the single most important thing we can do as I think our experts will attest.’

Johnson said the army and police have ‘well established plans’ to handle the kind of crisis that could be triggered by the Covid-19 spread.

He refused to be drawn on specific Ministry of Defence plans but said the country’s public services would be ‘going about their business in a normal way’.

When asked about measures to prevent vulnerable elderly residents becoming infected in care homes, Professor Whitty said: ‘If you do them too early you get no benefit from the epidemic but what you do get is a social cost.



Sir Patrick added: ‘Do things at the wrong time you end up with an awful lot of disruption… You do not want a situation where people are afraid to come to their front door for fear of catching something.’

He said there is ‘absolutely no reason’ to panic buy given the current situation in Britain based on current advice.

The Chief Scientific Adviser added: ‘Clearly there will need to be measures in cases of household quarantine for making sure food is in the right place at the right time.’

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Johnson’s Chief Adviser Dominic Cummings listens in on today’s press conference (Picture: AP)

A man wears a gas mask at Milton Keynes Central station over coronavirus fears (Picture: SWNS)

Johnson said workers could run into the ‘worse case scenario’ in terms of sick pay (Picture: AP)

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

The panel told Britons they do not need to cancel their holiday plans because the disease ‘will be everywhere’ anyway.

Sir Patrick said: ‘A lot depends on where the outbreaks are, so at the moment the outbreaks are across Europe and across most of the world in one form or another, and they’re contained in many places but becoming uncontained in some places.

‘Once the epidemic is everywhere then actually restricting travel makes no difference at all, and at the moment we’re certainly not recommending any changed behaviours in relation to that.

‘If it grows in the UK then of course it doesn’t really make any sense to say that you’re at more risk somewhere else than you are here.’

But Professor Whitty said it might be ‘more problematic’ for travellers to go to a country with a weaker health service in the midst of the global outbreak.

He said the NHS will prioritise treatment based on the patients in the greatest needs and reassured that the ‘great majority’ will survive the outbreak, even among the elderly.


Professor Whitty added: ‘If you look at the Chinese data, if you take the very oldest people, the great majority survive. If you’re talking about the low-risk groups, the rate of mortality is well below 1%.’

The Prime Minister was challenged on a part of the plan which could lead to a fifth of UK workers being absent to contain the spread.

He said ‘all options’ would remain under review when asked what he would do to ensure those who are ill do not also suffer hardship.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Johnson flanked by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (left) and Lead Science Adviser Patrick Vallance (Picture: EPA)

Two people wear protective masks in Parliament Square today as Boris Johnson said it is ‘highly likely’ the UK will see a growing number of cases (Picture: PA)

The PM stressed that washing your hands is the single most effective thing you can do (Picture: AP)

Johnson added: ‘On the issue of statutory sick pay and the risks that the workforce could conceivably run in that reasonable worst case scenario, we’re going to keep all options under review but we are well aware of the issue.’

When asked about parents who feel they might be missing out due to school closures, the PM said: ‘We don’t think the schools should be closing in principle. But schools should be following the advice of Public Health England.’

Professor Whitty said there is no evidence of children being badly affected by the disease, which has killed mostly older people and those with pre-existing health conditions.

The panel emphasised that there are a number of actions they could take but this will depend on how grave the outbreak becomes.

Johnson said he doesn’t think schools should be closing ‘in principle’ but that they should follow Public Health England advice (Picture: AP)

People wear face masks on Westminster Bridge in London as the UK coronavirus rate continues to climb (Picture: PA)

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said officials ‘might have to’ postpone the London Marathon (Picture@ EPA)

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

A coronavirus ‘war room’, is expected to bring together communications experts and scientists from across the Government and NHS who will roll out an information campaign later this week.

Less draconian measures in the ‘battle plan’ could also include getting volunteers to help public services with things like delivering food to patients.


Legislation allowing the Government to use extra powers to help control the spread of the airborne virus is expected to go through Parliament at the end of the month.

This morning’s announcement comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said officials ‘might have to’ postpone this year’s London Marathon to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning he added: ‘Right now, we do not recommend the cancelling of mass events and schools as well should not be closing unless there is a positive case and the schools have the advice to close.

Boris Johnson is unveiling his battle plan after an emergency Cobra meeting (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Border officials could be given powers to turn away or arrest suspected patients (Picture: SWNS)

Events with huge crowds including the London Marathon could be cancelled (Picture: Getty Images)

‘There maybe things we have to do down the line that we don’t want to, but we will need the powers to do that hence proposing emergency legislation’.

Yesterday the health secretary said more home ventilation kits are being made available for isolated patients.

Mr Hancock also told BBC Breakfast that the action plan would set out measures to deal with the virus now, to delay the spread, and, if it becomes a pandemic, actions that ‘we might have to take to mitigate it’.

He added: ‘It’s quite unusual for a Government to publish a plan with things in it we hope we won’t have to do.’

The health secretary stressed that the number one thing everyone cane do in the meantime is to wash their hands more often.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.