From left: Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance speak during a press conference in London, England, on March 9. Credit: Alberto Pezzali/WPA Pool/Getty Images

The UK government is walking a tightrope in its response to the coronavirus outbreak

On one hand, it is doing everything it can to keep the public calm, and delay taking the most drastic measures to prevent the spread until absolutely necessary.

On the other, it is scrambling to let the British public know that it's taking this pandemic seriously.

Over the weekend, public criticism that the government's response had been less drastic than that of other countries -- and accusations that it was playing roulette with the nation's health -- led to confusing briefings from government officials. And those briefings in some cases seemed to directly contradict what Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told the nation in a high-profile press conference days earlier.

Over the weekend, suggestions that over-70s would be placed in lengthy quarantine and that public gatherings could soon be banned caused confusion among the public, soon after the prime minister had urged the public to remain calm and explained why these measures were not being taken immediately.

Last Thursday, flanked by the UK's chief medical officer and chief scientific advisor, Johnson explained that even as the nation upped its response to the virus, it would not be shutting schools or banning mass gatherings. Johnson explained that the scientific evidence suggested that doing so would not do anything to prevent the spread and could have a negative impact on the National Health Service.

This slow approach made the UK an outlier, as its response was less strict than its European counterparts. It didn't take long for Johnson's critics to accuse him of playing roulette with the nation's health. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the respected medical journal The Lancet, tweeted: "What is happening in Italy is real and taking place now. Our government is not preparing us for that reality. We need immediate and assertive social distancing and closure policies. We need to prepare the NHS. This is a serious plea."

Government sources acknowledged to CNN on Monday that the longer-term scenario was moving faster than initially expected. They explained that the number of confirmed cases had grown quicker than planned and that the number of elderly people testing positive had caused the government to move faster than they'd have initially liked to. "There is an approach that hasn’t changed but might have accelerated depending on the evidence," said one government minister.

Impartial civil servants working directly on the government's response to Covid-19 are less generous, claiming that Johnson's inner circle was caught off guard. "I don't think Number 10 are taking it seriously enough. Lots of people are very lax ... Number 10 are taking the approach of being the last people standing," one civil servant told CNN.

Downing Street was approached for comment on not taking it seriously enough but had declined to respond at time of publication

However, for all the noise over the weekend, very little has actually so far changed in terms of policy. For the time being, this is more government officials putting out fires than anything else.

Downing Street is being uncharacteristically helpful and responsive to journalist questions over its Covid-19 response and has committed to giving daily press briefings.

Johnson will give the first of these later today. It will be the first indication of whether or not this flurry of activity over the weekend actually marks a serious change in government policy, or if the Johnson is happy that the UK remains a global outlier.