UK government laws set to be announced to defeat the coronavirus are “unprecedented in peacetime”, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
Mr Hancock also confirmed that the NHS would be cancelling elective surgery as he outlined the toughened government response in the House of Commons.
Mr Hancock said: “We will be cancelling or postponing non-time sensitive elective surgery and the NHS will make a statement about this later today.”
He added that the Government “absolutely will” publish the science and the modelling.
Elective surgery refers operations which don’t address life threatening conditions.
Mr Hancock was updating MPs moments after Boris Johnson said everyone must stop “all non-essential social contact” to help contain the coronavirus.
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The government is now encouraging people to avoid public gatherings wherever possible.
Mr Johnson said: “We need people to start working from home where they possibly can and you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.”
He added: “Without drastic action, cases could double every four or five days.”
Mr Johnson also said that as soon as one person in a household was infected that the whole home must now self isolate for 14 days.
He also announced that those in vulnerable groups – including all those over 70 – would be asked to avoid contact by isolating except in very specific circumstances.
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Making a statement in the Commons on the coronavirus outbreak Mr Hancock said: ”We will fight this virus with everything we’ve got.
”We are in a war against an invisible killer and we’ve got to do everything we can to stop it.”
Mr Hancock said the pandemic is ”the most serious public health emergency that our nation has faced for a generation”.
Mr Hancock said emergency legislation will be introduced to Parliament on Thursday which will give the Government new powers to keep strained public services running.
He told MPs: ”On Thursday we will introduce to the House the Coronavirus Emergency Bill.
”This Bill will give us the powers to keep essential services running at a time when large parts of the workforce may be off sick.”
He added: ”Some of these measures will be very significant and a departure from the way that we do things in peacetime.
”These are strictly temporary and proportionate to the threat we face and I hope that many will not have to be used at all.
”They will only be activated on the basis of scientific advice and will only be in place for as long as clinically necessary.”
Mr Hancock added: “Our policy is to fight this virus with everything we’ve got”.
He said: “We’ll give the NHS whatever it needs and we will do whatever it takes.
“We’ll get through this by working through our action plan to contain, delay, research and mitigate the virus and that plan has two overriding aims – to protect the NHS by building it up and flattening the curve and to protect life by safeguarding those who are most vulnerable.”
