Thirty-four new coronavirus cases have been recorded in the UK today in the biggest daily spike recorded on British soil, taking the number of infected patients to 85.
Health officials revealed 29 of the patients caught the virus abroad – but admitted three were infected in the UK, sparking fears the virus is spreading rapidly across the home nations.
The Department of Health refused to reveal where the infected patients were diagnosed but said 80 cases have been in England, three in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.
It comes after England’s chief medical officer this morning warned the coronavirus will kill Britons and added an epidemic was ‘highly likely’ as the crisis continues to accelerate.
Professor Chris Whitty’s chilling message for Britain’s 66million residents came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted yesterday people’s lives may have to be put on hold for up to three months to fight the deadly virus.
In the worst case scenario of the government’s ‘battle plan’, schools could be shut, millions forced to work from home and people asked to stop eating out, going to the pub or shopping in a bid to keep them away from others.
Official disaster projections suggest as many as half a million people could die if the disease isn’t controlled, but evidence from China – where fewer than 3,000 have died and the outbreak is now slowing down – suggests the real figure would be only a fraction of this.
Coronavirus fears have gripped Britain with nearly 3,000 people getting tested for coronavirus yesterday – the highest daily toll since the first two cases were diagnosed in York on January 31.
Commuters have now resorted to wearing storage boxes and plastic bags over their heads to avoid catching the disease, while supermarket shelves have been emptied as Brits stockpile hand gels, loo roll and cleaning sprays.
In a massive boost for workers, it was today announced they will get statutory sick pay on the first day of illness instead of the fourth, amid fears employees may not get paid if they take time off because of coronavirus.
A lone commuter wears a face mask as he crosses London Bridge in the capital this morning
The government’s battle plan has been divided into four stages – ‘Contain’, ‘delay’, ‘research’ and ‘mitigate’
In other developments today to the UK’s escalating coronavirus crisis:
Prince William made an off-colour joke about him and the Duchess of Cambridge ‘spreading’ coronavirus on their tour of Ireland this week;
MailOnline readers shared their pictures of empty shelves across the country as shoppers continued to ignore Government advice not to panic buy;
Potential coronavirus patients tested at drive-thru centres in London as part of a city-wide bid to stop the infection from spreading at hospitals;
The Bank of England faced pressure to follow US central bank and slash interest rates as the FTSE 100 rose 1.4 per cent after it lost £251billion last week;
Wizz Air unveiled plans to slash routes, cut costs and freeze recruitment as it became the latest airline to see bookings plunge amid coronavirus fears;
Commuters resorted to wearing storage boxes, plastic bags and even babies’ nappies over their heads to avoid contracting the deadly coronavirus;
A child from the Wirral received ‘horrendous abuse’ at his school after it was closed when one of his relatives tested positive for coronavirus;
Ministers launched an advertising blitz to urge the public to wash their hands whenever they arrive somewhere amid frantic efforts to halt the rise of coronavirus;
The World Health Organization urged people not to talk about transmitting the coronavirus as it ‘assigns blame’ to those who may be carrying it;
Chinese scientists said two strains of the coronavirus are spreading around the world – and 70 per cent of patients have caught the more aggressive and contagious type;
Facebook revealed more measures to help its users quickly access accurate information regarding the coronavirus outbreak and will provide the WHO with ‘as many free ads as it needs’;
Venice left deserted by the coronavirus outbreak with tourists abandoning the usually overcrowded streets and plazas over health fears’;
Germany’s health minister warned the outbreak has turned into a global pandemic after it recorded a 22 per cent spike in cases overnight;
Spain confirmed its first death and Poland became the latest country to report a case of the virus, with almost 90 countries around the world having been struck down;
A commuter wears a face mask as he crosses London Bridge in the capital this morning
Photos taken today show brave nurses donning face masks and protective glasses while swabbing patients in their nose and mouth through an open car window in London
A similar scheme will soon be rolled out in Northern Ireland, where nurses were seen practicing the procedure at Antrim Area Hospital in Co Antrim this morning
In an interview with Sky News this morning, Professor Whitty said: ‘I think it is… almost certain there will be more cases in the UK, probably a lot more cases as the Prime Minister laid out,and we would expect some deaths, yes.’
Professor Whitty told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that people wearing masks in public – including on the London Underground – will have little effect on whether or not they catch coronavirus.
The individual viruses which cause the disease are so small that they pass through many masks and people may be more likely to get it by touching a contaminated surface and then their face.
And he told presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: ‘It’s much more likely than not that we’re going to deal with a significant epidemic.
‘If people have got an infection and are being moved around a hospital then wearing masks is a good thing to do but for people just walking the streets it’s not going to have a significant effect.’
Piers Morgan pointed out that those who are wearing the ineffective items might also leave fewer masks available for the NHS.
It comes after it was revealed today that a hospital worker in Cumbria is one of two people in the county to have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The woman, who is in her thirties, is understood to have worked at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary. The trust said she self-isolated immediately after returning home from a trip to Italy with flu-like symptoms.
Colin Cox, director of public health at Cumbria County Council, said another Carlisle resident had also caught the virus. The News & Star newspaper says this is her partner.
Mr Cox said the council was working with Public Health England (PHE) to get in touch with anyone who had been in contact with the two people affected. Neither have been named.
Fears were today raised that two primary school pupils at a primary school in Winchester, Hampshire, may have caught the coronavirus while in a taxi.
Both students have been asked to self-isolate for 14 days because they travelled in a car that an infected patient had been in. Health officials say their risk is ‘very low’.
Elsewhere, a primary school in South Ockendon, Essex has closed for a deep clean after a family of a pupil travelled to one of the quarantined areas of Italy.
Last night it was revealed the family at the heart of the UK’s outbreak are a husband and wife whose son attends a £5,000-a-term school in Surrey.
The couple were confirmed as having the infection. Other parents who came into contact with the pair have been placed in self isolation.
Potential coronavirus patients are tested at a drive-thru centre in London today as part of a city-wide bid to stop the infection from spreading at hospitals
A test centre has opened at Parsons Green, west London, where people who believe they have contracted Covid-19 can be checked while still sat in their own cars
It comes after a woman who works at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary (pictured) tested positive for the coronavirus. The woman, thought to be in her 30s and live in Carlisle, caught the virus on holiday in Germany
Their son, who attends St Edmund’s in Hindhead, Surrey, has also been placed in self isolation – but has not yet tested positive for the fast spreading virus.
Elsewhere in the UK, potential coronavirus patients are being tested at drive-thru centres in London as part of a city-wide bid to stop the infection from spreading at hospitals.
A test centre has opened at Parsons Green, west London, where people who believe they have contracted COVID-19 can be checked while still sat in their own cars.
Photos taken today show brave nurses donning face masks and protective glasses while swabbing patients in their nose and mouth through an open car window.
The Central London Community Healthcare NHS trust launched the scheme this week. If successful, it will be rolled out more widely across England.
A similar scheme will soon be rolled out in Northern Ireland, where nurses were seen practicing the procedure at Antrim Area Hospital in Co Antrim this morning.
Only patients referred by NHS 111 are currently being sent to the drive thru service, with potential patients thought to be seriously ill excluded.
It comes as stock markets in Europe opened tentatively at the start of trading today as investors continued to consider the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of major blue-chip companies rose 94 points or 1.4 per cent this morning to 6,813 points compared with the close yesterday.
It was the third straight day of rises for the index, after coronavirus panic wiped more than £251billion off the value of Britain’s biggest companies last week.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index retreated 0.2 per cent to 11,963 points, while the Paris CAC 40 also lost 0.2 per cent to 5,381.
Interest rates in Britain could be cut in response to the coronavirus outbreak, with Bank of England governor Mark Carney indicating it might be on the cards.
MailOnline readers have shared their pictures of empty shelves across the country as shoppers continued to ignore Government advice not to panic buy.
Stockpiling of household goods means that many aisles in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Lidl and Aldi up and down the UK are looking increasingly desolate.
Sections for hand soap and disinfectant, nappies and baby wipes as well as dried goods such as pasta and rice appear to be the most decimated.
Britain’s supermarkets have also been accused of setting up ‘doomsday’ displays in stores and online aimed at worried stockpiling ‘survivalist’ shoppers.
All the best selling suggested items on Amazon’s Fresh website in grocery and beauty all appear to similar items being bought in bulk across the UK.
It comes as ministers launched a public information campaign urging the public to wash their hands whenever they arrive somewhere amid frantic efforts to halt the rise of coronavirus in the UK.
The drive is designed to change people’s attitude to hygiene, amid fears coronavirus could become a seasonal problem.
Yesterday Boris Johnson unveiled the government’s ‘battle plan’ for dealing with a major outbreak in this country, which experts believe is increasingly likely.
Under the plans, troops could be deployed on the streets, infected patients not suffering from complications may be sent home from hospital, and non-urgent NHS operations could be cancelled to free up space in hospitals.
The PM also revealed schools could be shut and children allowed to do coursework and sit exams from their home to stop the spread.
But he maintained that this would only be worst-case scenario and said schools should not close unless instructed to by Public Health England.
It comes after the news that a breath test that instantly spots patients with coronavirus has been developed by British scientists.
They say the technology could be used to rapidly screen people in airports. And it could also be used in GP surgeries, pharmacies or ambulances, giving an instant result.
The technology, developed by a team at Northumbria University in Newcastle, needs further testing but experts believe it could be quickly change the way the virus is spotted around the world.
The Government is launching a renewed public information campaign urging people to wash their hands to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Adverts will seek to drive home the message that regular hand-washing is the single most important action individuals can take in the fight against Covid-19.
Govan, Glasgow: The fruit and veg section and the bakery section of this Scottish Asda store was bare last night
Left, Osterley, west London: There is barely a bottle of handsoap in this branch of Tesco. Right, Pimlico, London: There was not a single bag of pasta available in this Sainsbury’s store last night
TODAY: The FTSE 100 index rose 94 points or 1.4 per cent this morning to 6,813 points
THIS WEEK: The FTSE 100 has been rising this week – and is up today for the third day in a row
A huge public information campaign is urging the public to wash their hands whenever they arrive somewhere
Professor Whitty’s comments come after the NHS yesterday announced it had hiked its threat level to the highest possible ‘national incident’ after 12 more British patients tested positive for the infection.
Health chiefs have declared the epidemic a ‘level four incident’, which grants them emergency powers to take control of local hospitals.
Coronavirus was ratcheted up to level four status in January, but the move was only confirmed yesterday as the government tried to calm public concern by unveiling a four-pronged strategy to tackle the growing crisis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a press conference yesterday with Professor Whitty and the government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, to launch the official action plan.
Troops could be deployed on the streets, infected patients who are not suffering from complications could be sent home from hospital, and non-urgent NHS operations could be cancelled to free up space in overwhelmed hospitals.
The PM also revealed schools could be shut and children allowed to do coursework and sit exams from their home to stop the spread. But he maintained that this would only be worst-case scenario and said schools should not close unless instructed to by Public Health England.
Mr Johnson said the government would take all ‘necessary and reasonable steps’ to contain the coronavirus, but appealed for the public to keep ‘going about our business as usual’.
He said: ‘I do think that this is a national challenge. The potential is there for this to be something that our country has to get through.
‘But I have absolutely no doubt that we have the resources, we have the health service to get through it.’
The 28-page ‘action plan’ was agreed at the first emergency Cobra meeting to be chaired by the PM on Monday.
The report stresses the response is still in the ‘containment’ phase, and explained there are four stages – contain, delay, research and mitigate.
But experts fear they will have to shift to ‘delay’ tactics – effectively damage limitation – within days or weeks amid growing outbreaks across Europe.
More than 2,500 people have now been diagnosed in Italy, which is in the grip of the second worst outbreak outside of China, and hundreds of patients have been discovered in Germany and France.
Poland today declared its first case of the coronavirus, following Ukraine yesterday.
The only European countries without infections are now Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Modlova, Turkey and Cyprus.
A drive-through coronavirus testing facility has been set up in Parsons Green, west London, where people can go for a swab test after being referred by NHS 111
Dr Joanne Medhurst, an NHS medical director said: ‘We’ve set up the “drive through” service to make sure people in our community can get safe, convenient and quick checks for coronavirus, as part of NHS efforts to keep everyone safe’
NHS sites across the UK are on high alert for the spread of coronavirus as the outbreak escalates. Pictured: Isolation pods at the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
One woman wore a plastic storage container over her head as she rode a bus, believed to be in London (left). Somewhere else in the UK a man tried to cover his head with a Tesco bag (right)
Cleaners in protective suits were seen disinfecting an Apple Store in Belfast in an apparent ‘deep clean’. There has been one case of coronavirus diagnosed in Belfast, in a woman who caught it in Italy
The Government’s action plan states that the ‘vast majority’ of cases will have only mild-to-moderate effects on individuals, but points out that the virus is highly infectious.
‘As it is a new virus, the lack of immunity in the population (and the absence as yet of an effective vaccine) means that Covid 19 has the potential to spread extensively,’ the document says.
‘The current data seems to show that we are all susceptible to catching this disease, and thus it seems more likely than not that the UK will be significantly affected.’
‘The potential is there for this to be something t
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