‘Five to ten thousand are likely to be infected in the UK’ with coronavirus

Boris Johnson have announced on Thursday that the whole of the “UK is now officially in the delay phase.” The government has advised that overseas school trips should now be cancelled.

The UK government’s chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance said at a press conference in Downing Street has said “it is most likely five to ten thousand  people are already infected in the UK with coronavirus.”

Sir Patrick said that we are following a similar trajectory to that of Italy, in terms of numbers and the peak could be 10 to 14 weeks away.

The prime minister said this disease is more dangerous than the common flu and “more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,” he added this is the “worst public health crisis in a generation.”

Boris Johnson now advises if you have any symptoms of coronavirus “however mild” do not leave your home for seven days.

Johnson said, “Some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas that is not right. Owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous.

“It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.”

The action plan published last week of the delay phase says, “Action that would be considered could include population distancing strategies, (such as school closures, encouraging greater home working, reducing the number of large scale gatherings) to slow the spread of the disease throughout the population, whilst ensuring the country’s ability to continue to run as normally as possible.

“The UK government’s education departments’ planning assumptions include the possibility of having to close educational settings in order to reduce the spread of infection.”

Johnson said, “From tomorrow [Friday], if you have symptoms that are indicative of coronavirus you should stay at home for seven days.”

On Thursday, Public Health England (PHE) said the total number of people across the UK with coronavirus has risen to 590 confirmed cases, an increase of 134 in 24 hours across the UK.

Ten people have now been confirmed to have died, two from London in the last 24 hours.

Compared to last Wednesday there were on a total of 85 cases reported. This is the largest jump in cases so far in one day across the UK since the coronavirus outbreak started in the UK.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now categorised the deadly coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic.

The US President, Donald Trump blames the EU for not acting quickly enough to contain coronavirus and he claims virus clusters were “seeded” European’s and has banned flights.