British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held an emergency COBRA meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on Monday to assess the fight against coronavirus and announced that preparations will begin for the "delay" phase of the government's four-phase strategy. While the UK will stay at stage one of "containment" of the virus, Johnson revealed that given the rising number of cases around the world the scientific advice was to be prepared for stage two, which would be aimed at delaying the peak of the outbreak to the summer months in the UK to make it slightly easier to tackle.
"We remain in the contain phase of the outbreak. But we are making extensive preparations to progress to the delay phase," Johnson said, addressing a press conference at Downing Street.
"There is no hiding from the fact that the coronavirus outbreak presents significant challenges for the UK, as it does in other countries. It is absolutely critical that we take the right decisions at the right time," he said, as he repeated his previous message for the public to diligently wash hands regularly for 20-seconds.
The government has confirmed a fourth death from COVID-19 in the UK, which now has 319 confirmed cases of the virus.
However, a decision to shut down schools within the "social distancing" plan has been deemed as not required as yet.
Following the emergency meeting on Monday, it was decided that the UK would remain in the first phase of its four-part plan to tackle the virus outbreak, which is made up of: contain, delay, research and mitigate.
"We continue to work to contain the virus, but we're also taking action to delay its impact, to fund research and to mitigate its consequences,” UK health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs in the House of Commons on Monday.
"Throughout our approach is guided by the science… The scientific advice is clear – acting too early creates its own risks, so we will do what is right to keep people safe. Guided by the science we'll act at the right time and we'll be clear and open about our actions and the reasons for them," he said.
Ministers have also been meeting with sports bodies and UK supermarkets to discuss the wider response to the outbreak, which could include staging matches behind closed doors.
The UK government has previously said that "social distancing" measures to slow the spread of the virus could include a ban on sporting events and other large gatherings, and encouraging people to work from home rather than use crowded trains and buses.
Meanwhile, UK supermarkets have begun restricting sales of some products to halt panic-buying and have stressed that stockpiling is not required.
The UK government is also planning a COVID-19 related Emergency Bill for Parliament to include an expansion of video hearings in courts and new powers to make it easier for volunteers to support the fight against the disease within the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
The UK Foreign Office is warning against travel to large parts of northern Italy – one of the European regions worst hit by the virus originating from the Wuhan province in China.
Those travelling from locked-down areas have also been advised to self-isolate if they returned to the UK in the last 14 days – even if they have shown no symptoms.
According to health experts, many individuals who get coronavirus will experience nothing worse than seasonal flu symptoms, but the overall profile of the resulting disease called COVID-19 is more serious.
It is believed to be about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally.
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