Quarantining entire UK cities to deal with coronavirus has not been ruled out by the government, according to health secretary Matt Hancock.

Hancock was asked this morning about extreme measures that could be taken to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Read more: Coronavirus UK: Three more people test positive as total number of cases hits 23

The health secretary said the government would publish its “battle plan” to combat the spread of the virus in the UK next week, but that nothing was being taken off the table.

When asked by the BBC whether it might be necessary to isolate entire cities, like the China did with Wuhan, Hancock said: “There’s a huge economic and social downside to that, but we don’t take anything off the table at this stage.

“You’ve got to make sure you have all the tools that are necessary, but I want to minimise the social and economic disruption and at this stage we still have the hope….that we might be able to avoid this act.”

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases among Britons is now at 23, with the first fatality recorded on Friday.

A British man, who has not yet been named, died after contracting the virus from a cruise ship in Japan.

Hancock warned that a vaccination was still “many months off” and advised people to vigilantly wash their hands with soap.

The World Health Organisation has advised people over the age of 60 to avoid being in large crowds, while the French government has banned gatherings of over 5,000 people.

When asked whether the UK could do similarly, Hancock said: “We’re looking at all options, including those.

“We’ll only look at things that scientifically make sense.”

Read more: Health officials hunting source of first coronavirus case spread within UK

An estimated 87,000 people are believed to have been infected with Covid-19, with more than 2,600 deaths so far recorded.

The large majority of these fatalities were in China.