Coronavirus: Total of 40 cases of COVID-19 now confirmed in UK

Four new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK, taking the total to 40, as the prime minister warned the virus is likely to spread more significantly across the country.

In an update on Monday, the Department of Health said 40 people had now tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus – with cases now in all four UK countries.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said the latest four patients were from Hertfordshire, Devon and Kent and had recently travelled from Italy, which is suffering the biggest outbreak in Europe.

After chairing his first emergency COBRA meeting about COVID-19, Boris Johnson warned the outbreak is “likely” to become “more significant” across the UK in the coming days and weeks.

“We’ve agreed a plan so that if and when it starts to spread, as I’m afraid it looks likely it will, we are in a position to take the steps that will be necessary,” the prime minister said.

Mr Johnson added that it was important that people “go about business as usual” for the time being, and said the country is “very, very well-prepared”.

It comes after Public Health England warned Britain needs to be prepared for “more widespread transmission” of the virus.

Professor Paul Cosford, PHE’s emeritus medical director, told Kay Burley@Breakfast some of the new cases that could emerge might be “quite challenging”.

The World Health Organisation said the “window of opportunity” to contain the outbreak is “narrowing”, as the risk of coronavirus in the European Union was raised to its second highest level.

In other developments:

• South Korea confirmed another 599 infections on Monday, taking its tally to more than 4,330 cases and 26 deaths
• Portugal, Indonesia, Iceland, Armenia, Czech Republic and Andorra confirmed their first cases
• An aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader died after contracting COVID-19
• The United States confirmed its second death from the disease
• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran, is showing “all the symptoms” of coronavirus but is yet to be tested, her husband said
• Australia recorded its first person-to-person transmission
• British Airways cancelled hundreds of flights in March, blaming “reduced demand” due to the coronavirus outbreak
• British guests at a quarantined hotel in Tenerife were being flown back after testing negative
• More than 89,000 confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 have been recorded globally and there have been more than 3,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the outbreak

Government sources have said it could be “months rather than weeks” before the coronavirus outbreak in the UK peaks.

Monday’s emergency meeting was attended by senior ministers including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, as well as Professor Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also took part via a conference call.

Speaking from Edinburgh after the talks, Ms Sturgeon said a “four-nation action plan” would be published on Tuesday setting out the different phases to tackle “an infection of this nature”.

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But she stressed the UK was still in the “contain” phase of dealing with the virus.

“Wash your hands is the national anthem,” said Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, outside the Cabinet Office.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan was excluded from the COBRA meeting, with a City source telling Sky News that people might feel “it is a bit strange” he was not invited given the size of London.

One of the UK coronavirus cases diagnosed on Monday was a worker at the North East London NHS Foundation Trust offices at Vinters Business Park near Maidstone in Kent.

The number of new UK cases announced is fewer than the 13 cases confirmed on Sunday – which included a “family cluster” and the first case in Scotland.

A clinician at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, Middlesex, was among those people diagnosed.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned the coronavirus is the gravest threat to the global economy since the 2008 financial crisis.

Sky News understands Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, have held discussions and work is under way on both the short-term needs and long-term preparedness in the event of economic disruption.

The government’s “battle plan” to tackle coronavirus includes bringing retired doctors back to work.

It is understood new emergency powers will be brought in to give schools, councils and other parts of the public sector powers to suspend laws – including rowing back on health and safety measures such as allowing larger class sizes – to cope with a pandemic.

Ministers are also considering whether to encourage more home working and discourage unnecessary travel.

The strategy is based on its existing contingency plans for responding to a flu pandemic, but has been adapted to take into account the differences with COVID-19.

In the worst-case scenario, it is feared 80% of the population could contract the virus, with up to 500,000 deaths.

Virus Outbreak: Global Emergency – Watch a special Sky News programme on coronavirus at 6pm weekdays.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Total of 40 cases of COVID-19 now confirmed in UK