On Sunday’s Downing Street press conference, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, Robert Jenrick said parts of the UK “are now on an emergency footing.”
Jenrick added, “We are establishing strategic co-ordination centres across the whole country. Each centre is led by gold commanders.
“We’re bringing together senior members of the emergency services, the police, the fire service, the ambulance service, with local authorities and the NHS to lead communities through this challenging period.”
Jenrick said the government has written to 1m vulnerable people across the UK who have underlying health conditions.
He said it is a “worrying time” for those who cannot leave their home for 12 weeks. He added, “If you don’t have family or friends or neighbours nearby who you can rely on, the NHS will deliver your medicines through the community pharmacy network.”
The Housing minister, said packages are already being delivered which includes cereal, tinned goods, teabags, toiletries and other essentials.
He said, “The first 50,000 will have been sent out by the end of this week. We are ramping up production to send out as many as required for as long as it takes.”
England’s deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said at the press briefing, “If we practise social distancing effectively, we will move the peak across and this is a good thing.
“The data that we have, the modelling going forward, will suggest that in the time period that the Prime Minister noted, which was 12 weeks, we would get on top of the virus.
“That is exactly what I hope we will do. The proof of that will come in about two to three weeks.”
Dr Harries added, “We need to wait for two to three weeks to see what we have achieved, and then the slope of that curve will begin to indicate where a new peak will be.”
Dr Harries further warned that the UK lockdown could last for up to six months, or even longer.
She warned people that no one should see the coronavirus crisis as “something that will blow over” within weeks.
Jenrick was asked about Boris Johnson’s earlier statement, that the tide would be turned in 12 weeks, and was further asked, what the current forecast is now.
The MP said, “Nobody is pretending that this will be over in a few weeks.”