BORIS Johnson will today step up coronavirus crisis plans as he chairs another emergency COBRA meeting following the UK’s third death from the bug last night.
The PM will take charge of the UK response today and decide whether to put in place drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease, as 278 cases were reported.
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Ministers will look at social distancing measures including banning big events, closing schools and encouraging Brits to work from home.
Britain is said to be just days from formally going from the “contain” phase to the “delay” phase as coronavirus spreads across the country.
Last night a man in his 60s with underlying health conditions became the third UK death linked to the disease.
It comes as:
Today Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden played down the chances of mass banning of events, and said it was “very premature” to be talking about it.
There are “no plans” to follow in the footsteps of France or other countries at the moment, he insisted.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We shouldn’t be cancelling events at this stage, but I just say as a caution that we do keep these things under review and that may change in the future but we certainly have no plans at this stage to take any such steps.”
However, last night former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart urged ministers to act now before it’s too late.
He said: “You must act as quickly as you can in a way that you’re not going to have any regrets… there will be so many voices around the table who are going to be pushing to say let’s just give it another day or two.
“My experience watching people deal with Ebola in the eastern Democratic Congo and indeed with other situations is you have to act early.”
He said he was keeping a keep eye on China, which has imposed draconian measures across its entire country, but it appears to be curbing the spread of the disease.
“My sense is aggressive containment and taking short-term economic damage is definitely worth doing if you can stave off the bigger spread,” he added.
Former Chancellor George Osborne urged ministers to use Wednesday’s Budget to “vaccinate the economy” against the deadly bug.
Rishi Sunak is set to reveal his economic plans in just a few days time, but the spread of the virus threatens to overshadow it completely.
THE FCO HAS WARNED BRITS AGAINST ‘ALL BUT ESSENTIAL TRAVEL’ TO:
- Lombardy region (which includes the cities of Milan, Bergamo, Como)
- Modena
- Parma
- Piacenza
- Reggio Emilia and Rimini (all in Emilia Romagna)
- Pesaro e Urbino (in Marche)
- Alessandria
- Asti
- Novara
- Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
- Vercelli (all in Piemonte)
- Padova. Treviso
- Venice (in Veneto)
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Around 16 million people in Lombardy, Veneto and other regions have been placed under total lockdown with a ban on people entering and leaving.
The Foreign Office have advised against “all but essential travel” to the worst-hit regions.
But the travel advice still says that Brits will be given permission to fly home.
The Foreign Office say they do “advise” two-weeks of self-isolation upon returning from an affected region.
But there is nothing stopping passengers from hopping on public transport or entering densely populated spaces.
