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A top scientist spearheading Britain’s battle against coronavirus has gone down with the symptoms and today warned there are almost certainly thousands of cases already in the heart of London.

Professor Neil Ferguson stressed Covid-19 was becoming “quite a widespread community infection, particularly in hotspots like London”.

Thirty people with coronavirus are understood to have already died in the capital and the number of cases is expected to rise sharply .

Professor Ferguson, director of the Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College, London, also told how several academic colleagues advising the Government had developed coronavirus symptoms and there was a “slight” risk he could have passed it on.

He attended a No 10 press conference on Monday with Boris Johnson, chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and started to develop symptoms the following day.

Professor Ferguson is a lead author in a paper which swung the Government into imposing the most stringent restrictions in peacetime Britain since the Second World War to avoid 250,000 Covid-19 deaths, including 14-day self-isolation for households and sweeping social distancing measures.

Early this morning, Professor Ferguson tweeted: “Sigh. Developed a slight dry but persistent cough yesterday and self isolated even though I felt fine. Then developed high fever at 4am today. There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster.”

Official figures show the number of confirmed cases rising sharply in London and the South-East.

The number of cases in London went up from 480 on Monday to 621 yesterday, and in the wider South-East from 175 to 241, with the joint total expected to jump towards 1,000 or more today.

The true figure is estimated to be far higher as testing is now primarily focused on people in hospital rather than the wider community. In four boroughs alone, there were more than 200 confirmed cases as of yesterday, with 58 in both Westminster and Southwark, 49 in Kensington and Chelsea, and 43 in Lambeth, with only Hampshire higher on 69.

Professor Ferguson told how the infection is spreading, particularly in the capital.

“Central London is really the hotspot in the UK at the moment. There are almost certainly thousands of cases in central London,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“It’s becoming quite a widespread community infection, particularly in hotspots like London and if we had not acted as soon as this week...it’s doubling at the moment every three or four days in size the epidemic.

“It highlights the need for the response which has been enacted."

Asked how he might have been infected, he explained that he had been a large number of meetings and that other academic colleagues advising the Government have developed symptoms.

The leading epidemiologist said he was feeling “fairly grotty” this morning and there was a “slight” risk he could have infected others before self-isolating for seven days alone in his central London flat last night out of an “abundance of caution” after developing a cough yesterday.

While it is thought that there is limited spread before symptoms, he stressed that their “onset” is when it is believed that there is “peak infectiousness”.

As the number of cases rises in the capital, the London Ambulance Service appealed to most people to use NHS 111 online so elderly people, often less able to use the internet and most at risk, can get through on emergency phone lines.

LAS chief executive Garrett Emmerson told LBC Radio that the service had experienced its two busiest 999 days “by some way”, getting nearly 8,000 calls rather than about 5,000 on a daily peak, and some three times as many 111 calls than normal volume.

“We are really urging people to only phone the 999 service if it’s absolutely a life-threatening emergency,” he said.

He urged people with coronavirus symptoms, of a new, continuous cough and a high temperature, to go to the NHS website. He stressed: “We need those phone lines to be free for them.”

Listen to today's episode of The Leader:



In other developments:

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt voiced concerns that some frontline medics still did not have enough anti-Covid protective kit, saying: “The least we can do is make sure that they get the protective equipment that they need.”

Ministers were ready to impose an even “harder” lockdown on London if cases spiral more than expected in coming days.

Many schools were facing growing pressure to close with large numbers of teachers self-isolating, but ministers were insisting they should stay open at the moment.

Ministers were looking at urgent ways to help staff in London’s hospitality and entertainment sector who face their jobs being axed this weekend if restaurants and pubs are “mothballed”. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said ministers were also looking at help for renters who did not benefit from last night’s announcement of a mortgage holiday for homeowners and landlords.

Testing for coronavirus was massively stepped up by the NHS and Public Health England, with a target of 25,000 tests a day within four weeks. A brand new 10-minute test is being rolled out that will reveal if people have had Covid-19 and are now immune. It promises to enable NHS carers and others to return to work knowing they cannot be infected or pass it on.

A baby has tested positive for Covid-19 in a hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, the second reported UK case among infants.

The youngest person to die in the UK to date has been named as 45-year-old Craig Ruston, who had motor neurone disease. He died on Monday after his chest infection was diagnosed as Covid-19. The nationwide death toll is 71.

The most senior judge in England and Wales, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, decided no new trials should start in any crown court unless it is expected to last for three days or fewer.

The Government announced that emergency coronavirus legislation would give the police powers to arrest and isolate people to protect public health.

Sainsbury’s became the latest supermarket to announce measures to help the elderly and vulnerable as store shelves became severely depleted, and also imposed limits of two or three on some items.

Pubs and restaurants were told they will be allowed to be turned into takeaways to help provide food for people in self-isolation.

Filming on BBC soap EastEnders and BBC Studios dramas including Casualty, Doctors and Holby City will be postponed until further notice.

An updated figure on the confirmed UK cases is due later today.