Three more people have tested positive for coronavirus in England, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 39, England’s chief medical officer has said.

The patients are from Devon and Kent and had recently travelled to the UK from Italy. “Contact tracing has begun,” Prof Chris Whitty said.

A fourth case had been reported following a test of a patient in Hertfordshire but this was later reported to be a false positive.

Boris Johnson and Public Health England’s medical director, Paul Cosford, have warned that the spread of coronavirus in the UK is likely to become more significant.

Speaking after a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee, where ministers had gathered to discuss a “battle plan” to tackle the spread of the virus, the prime minister said: “We have also agreed a plan so that if and when it starts to spread, as I’m afraid it looks likely it will, we are in a position to take the steps necessary to contain the spread of the disease as far as we can and to protect the most vulnerable.”

He said decisions on closing schools and banning mass gatherings would be taken only after speaking to experts, adding: “The most important thing for people to understand is that [measures] will be guided by scientific advice.” The UK could expect widespread infection “fairly soon”, he said.

Cosford said: “If we do get widespread transmission in the UK, the most important thing for us now is to make sure we’re prepared in every possible way to slow the spread of infection, so the intensity reduces and we’re able to deal with the consequences. We’re not there yet but we’ve got to be prepared for it.”

The medical director, who attended various morning broadcasts on Monday, said with the increase of cases in the UK, coupled with rising numbers in Europe and globally, it was “highly likely” Britain would experience widespread transmission.

The number of new UK cases included a patient in Essex who became the second in the country to test positive without having travelled abroad recently. It also included a clinician from the Mount Vernon cancer centre in Middlesex and a GP in Haslemere, Surrey.

The latest case occurred at the North East London NHS foundation trust offices in Kent. Vinters business park, home to Maidstone Studios and an office suite used by the trust, confirmed a tenant had tested positive for the virus and its team “is taking the sensible precaution of self-isolating and working from home”.

Cosford said if the UK experienced widespread transmission, further action to reduce social contact may be needed. “We’ve all got a part to play in slowing the spread of infection. We do need to get to a point where we reduce social contact if we see more widespread infection,” he said.

He said the vast majority of UK cases could be traced to travel to affected countries, though there were some where the source of infection was unclear.



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Cosford said it was important to maintain a degree of perspective about coronavirus, noting that most people would make a full recovery from what remained a relatively mild illness.

With children and otherwise healthy adults appearing to be at much lower risk of serious complications from Covid-19, older people and those with severe underlying illnesses continued to be of particular concern, he said.

Cosford also reiterated a sense of personal responsibility was needed to prevent the spread of infection, including basic hygiene practices such as handwashing.

On Sunday, the health secretary said if the virus continued to spread in the UK, the government would consider all options. Matt Hancock told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We don’t take anything off the table at this stage.”

The global death toll from Covid-19 has surpassed 3,000, with the vast majority of deaths in China. More than 88,000 people in more than 60 countries have been infected.