The UK could be heading straight for a coronavirus crisis like the one which has crippled Italy, leading experts have warned.

Italy last night put all of its 60million people into lockdown and banned movement between cities in a drastic bid to contain the outbreak, which has infected 9,000 people.

But one scientist tracking the outbreak in the UK said Britain is following the same trajectory and could end up in a similar situation as Italy within two weeks.

The number of cases in Italy has rocketed from just three on February 21 to at least 9,172. While in the UK it has jumped from nine to 373.

Professor Mark Handley, at University College London, compared the rate of coronavirus infection in Italy, which is in crisis, to that in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the US and Switzerland and found they're growing at the same rate

Images have emerged of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the Cremona Hospital in northern Italy – they are kept laying face down because it may improve the function of a ventilator, which helps failing lungs to work, by reducing the pressure on the lungs

The entire of Italy is now in lockdown and citizens are forbidden from travelling between cities (Pictured, a solder stands guard outside the Duomo Cathedral in Milan)

Experts say the UK – where the number of coronavirus cases started to take off last week – is just two weeks away from being in a situation as bad as Italy's

It comes as a senior Italian health official today warned the coronavirus spreads 'very quickly, like a fire'. Professor Giacomo Grasselli, who is coordinating the network of intensive care units in Lombardy, said: ‘What happened to us is like a bomb that exploded’

WHY ARE INTENSIVE CARE PATIENTS LAYING FACE DOWN? Images have emerged of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the Cremona Hospital in northern Italy laying face down. Doctors get critically-ill patients – ones who are fighting acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) – to lie prone. The life-threatening condition is caused when the lungs become inflamed, which makes fluid from blood vessels leak into tiny air sacs. As well as the killer coronavirus, ARDS can be caused by pneumonia, flu, a severe chest injury or the accidental inhalation of vomit, the NHS says. Patients battling the condition need a ventilator because their lungs can't provide their body's vital organs with enough oxygen. Studies have shown lying prone can improve the function of the device, which helps failing lungs to work, by reducing the pressure on the lungs The American Association of Critical Care Nurses says: 'Prone positioning is now considered first-line therapy for patients with severe ARDS.' The body, which has more than 100,000 members, said the positioning can 'reduce lung trauma and improve outcomes'. Figures suggest up to 10 per cent of patients admitted to intensive care units suffer ARDS. Advertisement

A senior medical officer in the government today admitted 'many thousands' of Britons will get infected.

And bestselling British author and former doctor, Adam Kay, warned in a tweet about the crisis in Italy: 'This is us in a fortnight'.

It comes as a senior Italian health official today warned the coronavirus crisis 'was like a bomb that exploded', saying it spreads 'very quickly, like a fire'.

Professor Giacomo Grasselli, who is coordinating the network of intensive care units in Lombardy, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: ‘What happened to us is like a bomb that exploded.

'The only way to win this battle is to change the behaviour of the people, they have to stay at home, they have to avoid crowded places, they have to wash their hands.'

He added: 'I would be very careful in this period because it spreads very quickly, it's like a fire.'

University College London biology professor, Dr Francis Balloux, said: 'The trajectory of the epidemic in the UK is so far roughly comparable to the one in Northern Italy, but with the epidemic in Northern Italy two to three weeks ahead of the situation in the UK.'

Dr Balloux said that it was possible the UK could face a similar lockdown to the one which has brought Italy to its knees.

After cases of the virus started to spring up in skiing resorts in the country's Alpine north, entire regions including Milan, Venice and Lake Como were put into quarantine.

The rest of the country has now followed suit – citizens face jail time if they try to travel around the country, schools have been closed, the Serie A professional football league has been called off, public transport is shutting down and museums and large events are off limits to the public.

The UK has so far not taken any dramatic measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which officials yesterday saying they still believe they can stop it.

A graph posted on Twitter by another UCL scientist, Professor Mark Handley, showed that outbreaks in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the US and Switzerland are all following the same trajectory as Italy's.

Daily increases of approximately 33 per cent are seen in all the countries.

Professor Handley compares them to Japan, where the rate of increase is considerably lower and where cases have been being diagnosed for longer.

Italy is at the centre of Europe's coronavirus outbreak – at least 9,172 people have been diagnosed with the infection and 463 people have died

Cases in the UK have crept up to 373 – six patients have now died

Downtown Milan is seen almost deserted today as the government has shut down the entire country to try and stop the coronavirus from spreading (Pictured, the Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in Milan)

British bestselling author and former NHS doctor, Adam Kay, compared the UK and Italy situations and said: 'this is us in a fortnight'

The government's battle plan has been divided into four stages – 'contain', 'delay', 'research' and 'mitigate'. Officials are today expected to declare a move to 'delay'

He said: 'Everyone else will be like Italy in 9-14 days time'.

Officials in Britain have already admitted that thousands of people in the UK are expected to catch the deadly disease.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, predicted 'many thousands of people' would get COVID-19.

Most people only get a mild illness and don't need medical help, while others may be hospitalised and a small proportion will get pneumonia and die.

Dr Harries told Sky News: 'We currently have relatively few cases here, which is why we are still in the containment phase [the first step of government action plan].

'Obviously we will have significant numbers in a way in which the country is not used to.

'This is the sort of thing that professionally we're trained for and very rarely see, almost in a professional lifetime.

'Large numbers of the population will become infected because it's a naive population, nobody has got antibodies to this virus currently.

'We will see many thousands of people infected by coronavirus, that's what we're seeing in other countries and the important thing for us is to make sure that we manage those infections.'

She added: 'Within 10 to 14 days we will be likely to advise people with symptoms to self-isolate and we are expecting that start of the peak (of coronavirus cases) to come during that period.'

A masked medic tends to a patient on the intensive care ward in Cremona, in northern Italy at the centre of the outbreak

Doctors work at a hospital in Schiavonia in northern Italy with more than 9,000 coronavirus cases now confirmed in the country in the worst outbreak outside China and South Korea

A view of the mostly deserted Via Dante pedestrian street in central Milan this morning

A crowd of people with shopping trolleys, some of them wearing masks, gather outside a supermarket in Rome this morning

Italians pack supplies of groceries into overloaded shopping trolleys at a supermarket in Rome this morning as they prepare for a weeks-long quarantine after Italy's lockdown was extended nationwide

A masked man checks a person's paperwork at Milan central station yesterday

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte during a press conference at Chigi Palace in Rome last night where he announced the latest quarantine measures

Boris Johnson yesterday faced a backlash after he held off a decision on upgrading the Government's coronavirus response despite a Cobra meeting hearing that the UK faces a 'significant' outbreak.

The PM chaired a meeting of the emergency committee - but it stopped short of shifting the official strategy from the 'contain' phase to focus on efforts to delay the spread.

That could potentially see people being advised to work from home where possible, and vulnerable people – the elderly or those with long-term health problems – urged to stay at home to avoid becoming infected.

More dramatic options include pubs, church halls and schools being closed and football matches called off - although ministers stress those moves are more likely later in the crisis.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, are seen leaving 10 Downing Street yesterday after an emergency Cobra meeting

Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: 'We remain in the contain phase but it is now accepted that this virus is going to spread in a significant way.'

Asked whether the government was being slow to act, the spokesman said the response was based on scientific advice. 'From the beginning of the outbreak we have based all of our decisions on the best available scientific advice and we will continue to do so,' he said.

However, former Tory Cabinet minister Rory Stewart said the example of China, and his experience in the Ebola outbreak in Africa last year, showed Mr Johnson could not afford to wait. 'What you will find is that the government will eventually close schools,' he told LBC radio. 'We should be doing it tomorrow.'