Four new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK, taking the total to 40, as the prime minister warned the virus is likely to spread more significantly across the country.
In an update on Monday, the Department of Health said 40 people had now tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus – with cases now in all four UK countries.
After chairing his first emergency COBRA meeting about COVID-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the outbreak is “likely” to become “more significant” across the UK in the coming days and weeks.
“We’ve 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 that will be necessary,” he said.
Mr Johnson added that it was important that people “go about business as usual” for the time being, and said the country is “very, very well-prepared”.
Government sources have said it could be “months rather than weeks” before the coronavirus outbreak in the UK peaks.
Monday’s emergency meeting was attended by senior ministers including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, as well as Professor Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also took part via a conference call.
Speaking from Edinburgh after the talks, Ms Sturgeon said a “four-nation action plan” would be published on Tuesday setting out the different phases to tackle “an infection of this nature”.
It is understood new emergency powers will be brought in to give schools, councils and other parts of the public sector powers to suspend laws – including rowing back on health and safety measures such as allowing larger class sizes – to cope with a pandemic.
Ministers are also considering whether to encourage more home working and discourage unnecessary travel.
The strategy is based on its existing contingency plans for responding to a flu pandemic, but has been adapted to take into account the differences with COVID-19.
In the worst-case scenario, it is feared 80% of the population could contract the virus, with up to 500,000 deaths.