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Coronavirus cases in the UK have increased to 51 over the past week, spurring the Government into outlining a battle plan to tackle and delay the spread of the virus. Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College warned attempts to stop the COVID-19 epidemic altogether are now "over" as he advised the Ministry of Health to focus their early containment efforts on the "elderly and the frail." Speaking to the BBC Today programme, Professor Ferguson said: "The world tried very hard to stop this virus altogether.

"You can see from the statistics, the number of countries affected that that battle is really over and now we’re moving towards trying to slow the spread to allow the health systems to cope and try to mitigate the impact of the epidemic." Professor Ferguson continued: "We’re in an early stage of the epidemic in this country. "We’ve had some early signals that there is community transmission here but we’re several weeks behind, for example, Italy. "We’re looking at the sort of community intervention, that is reducing contact between people in society which could slow spread." JUST IN: Coronavirus latest: Government warns fifth of all UK workers could be affected by virus

BBC Coronavirus warning: Prof Ferguson warned the battle to spot the spread is "over"

Prof Ferguson told the Government to focus their containment efforts of "the elderly and the frail"

He added: "Another important thing is targeting intervention in the most vulnerable, so try to protect principally the old and frail from getting infected. "We are at an early stage in this country. I’m not saying we have a lot of time, we have days, weeks really, to make these decisions and start introducing these measures. "But I think they will be introduced in a phased way which really targets reducing the peak burden on the health system to allow the NHS to cope. "It particularly aims at reducing infection risks in the most vulnerable groups in society to reduce the burden of mortality which we expect to see." READ MORE: GP silences BBC Newsnight as she exposes key health advice UK must take

Boris Johnson said the elderly and the frail will be the number one priority

Boris Johnson on Tuesday unveiled its battle plan to tackle the epidemic as ministers urged business to prepare for mass staff absences because of COVID-19. The Prime Minister has warned that is is “highly likely” the UK will see further infection, and that the next steps from the Government would focus efforts on stopping the spread of the virus. In the UK, if the coronavirus becomes more widespread, some non-urgent hospital care may be delayed in order to focus on treating those who are infected. Recently retired doctors and nurses may even be called back to work in order to help cope with the number of those ill. Other possible measures include school closures, reducing large-scale gatherings such as music and sporting events, as well as sealing off entire cities. DON'T MISS Coronavirus UK symptoms: How is COVID-19 transmitted? [EXPLAINER]

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