Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ramp up Britain’s efforts in its battle against coronavirus after the country experienced its largest hike in cases in a single day and the outbreak was previously declared a global pandemic.
Infections of the killer virus today soared to 700 in Britain, up by (in a) – hour period, meaning the outbreak has risen five-fold in the space of a week amid fears the UK is hurtling towards an Italy-style crisis.
Leading scientists have blasted the Government for dithering for days about whether to move into the ‘delay stage’ of its battle plan, which would see schools closed, public gatherings called off, elderly people barred from leaving home and millions of employees told to work from home.
Ministers have so far stopped short of shifting the official strategy from the ‘contain’ phase, claiming that ‘scientific advice’ suggests the draconian measures were not yet necessary.
But the World Health Organization’s (WHO) decision to upgrade the coronavirus outbreak to a global pandemic will pile pressure on the Prime Minister to reconsider the strategy.
In a veiled jab at the UK’s coronavirus efforts, the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom, slammed countries for having a ‘lack of resolve’ and not implementing containment measures quicker to halt the spread of the virus.
Announcing COVID – 24 as a pandemic, he said: ‘Some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resources. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve. ‘
Most of the cases confirmed in the UK have been in England ( ). Thirty-six patients have been struck down in Scotland, in Northern Ireland and in Wales. Dozens are feared to have caught the infection in the UK.
Under a drastic ‘battle plan’ laid out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, schools could be closed, thousands of non-urgent NHS operations cancelled and troops deployed on streets, if the outbreak escalates.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled a massive £ billion plan to try and contain the crisis, while insisting the government will do ‘everything it can ‘to keep the country’ healthy and financially secure ‘.
Senior health officials said yesterday the peak of coronavirus in the UK is expected within the next fortnight and warned that thousands more will be infected now the virus is rapidly spreading on British soil.
The infection is now transmitting between humans in countries across Europe, including Spain, Germany and France – popular Easter holiday destinations for thousands of Brits looking to jet abroad.
The number of UK coronavirus cases has soared to . Pictured, people wear face masks to protect themselves in London
Most of the cases confirmed in the UK have been in England (456. Fears are mounting that the worsening crisis in the UK is mirroring that of Italy, where 75 million people have been placed in an unprecedented lockdown
People wearing a protective face masks walking across London Bridge today as Britain braces itself for an increase in cases of the coronavirus. Experts expect the outbreak to peak in the next fortnight with thousands more cases
Under a drastic ‘battle plan’ laid out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson , schools could be closed, thousands of non-urgent NHS operations cancelled and troops deployed on streets, if the outbreak escalates. Pictured, shop workers in London
The Prince of Wales uses a Namaste gesture to greet Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood as he arrives at the annual Prince’s Trust Awards held at the London Palladium this afternoon as hand shaking becomes a taboo worldwide
An NHS coronavirus information sign at Heathrow Airport in London today; Heathrow said the number of passengers traveling through the airport fell by 4.8 per cent year-on-year in February due to the impact of coronavirus
Before today, the biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases was on Sunday, March 8, when 79 patients were struck down with the killer infection, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December.
But China’s outbreak – which saw hundreds of millions of residents and tourists locked down to contain the spread – has dramatically slowed down in the past few weeks.
Just cases were diagnosed today throughout the whole of China, which is home to 1.4billion people. During its peak in early February, almost 4, 12 patients were being diagnosed each day.
However , the coronavirus crisis is continuing to spiral rapidly in Europe, with Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy having recorded more cases than the uk.
In other developments to the escalating coronavirus crisis today:
- A female patient with an underlying illness has become the first person in the Republic of Ireland to die after testing positive for coronavirus, the country Department of Health said
- The Bank of England made an emergency cut in interest rate from 0. (per cent to 0.) per cent ahead of the budget to battle coronavirus – sending FTSE 126 to a 2 per cent rise;
- A British woman, 60, with diabetes and lung disease, died of coronavirus in Indonesia after picking up the virus elsewhere, becoming the country first death in the epidemic;
- ) Health Minister Nadine Dorries’ coronavirus diagnosis has caused chaos in Parliament today as her two offices were sealed off and one of her staff fell ill ;
- Boris Johnson is not being tested for coronavirus despite being at a reception with infected health minister Nadine Dorries. He is not exhibiting symptoms and did not come into ‘close contact’ with Ms Dorries;
- People traveling back to the UK from coronavirus-hit Italy say the Government is doing next to nothing to protect against them spreading the virus in Britain. They say they were not tested on arrival or given advice;
- An employee at Barclay’s Canary Wharf office at 5 North Colonnade has tested positive for coronavirus, the bank has said, forcing it to deep clean and disinfect the site;
- GPs are using cooking aprons to see coronavirus patients because they don’t have the correct protective equipment, including disposable plastic aprons and face masks, it has been claimed;
- GPs have been told to perform coronavirus tests on any patient with flu-like symptoms if they need to be admitted to hospital, regardless of whether they have traveled to high-risk spots like Italy;
- More than , 11 People are today calling on the government to close schools across the UK in amid coronavirus fears by signing a petition started by Sami Attout;
- Hundreds of thousands of care home residents could be ‘cocooned’ and segregated from society to keep them safe from coronavirus, health bosses say. Elderly people are less likely to survive COVID – ;
- NHS England is ramping up its coronavirus testing capacity so , swabs can be done a day;
- Premier League matches will go ahead this weekend despite coronavirus cancelling tonight’s Man City v Arsenal game after ‘number’ of Gunners team met a Greek football boss who later tested positive;
- Some Britons will land in the UK this evening after leaving the Grand Princess cruise ship – but they will not be formally quarantined and have been asked only to self-isolate in their own homes. A fleet of coaches and taxis has arrived at Birmingham Airport where passengers are due to touch down at 5. PM;
- The outbreak may have put plans for Princess Beatrice’s wedding in jeopardy amid fears friends and family of her fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi will be unable to jet in from their homes in Italy;
- Poland plans to close all schools, museums and cinemas from Monday, while Ukraine’s capital city Kiev will shut all educational buildings due to fears of coronavirus spreading;
- A passenger was arrested for licking his hand and wiping it on a handrail on the Belgian subway, forcing the train to be taken off service and disinfected;
- Heathrow said the number of passengers traveling through the airport fell by 4.8 per cent year-on-year in February due to the impact of coronavirus
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Unveiling his crucial first Budget, the Chancellor insisted his plans will ensure the UK is ‘one of the best placed economies in the world’ to cope with the impact of the disease
Mr Sunak said the government was doing ‘everything it can’ to keep the country ‘healthy and financially secure’
Mr Sunak was flanked by the PM and congratul ated by colleagues after he finished the statement in the Commons today
Mr Sunak today unveiled a massive £ a billion plan to stop coronavirus plunging Britain into Italy- style chaos – Italy is now the worst-hit country outside of China – more than , people there have come down with the illness and at least have died.
Delivering his crucial first Budget, the Chancellor admitted people were ‘worried’ and the killer disease will inevitably have a major impact on the economy.
NHS BUDGET: GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES IT WILL REFUND SICK PAY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSESRishi Sunak handed small and medium-sized businesses a coronavirus lifeline today as he said the government will cover the cost of sick pay linked to the deadly outbreak.
The Chancellor used his Budget to announce a fighting fund worth more than £ 2billion which firms with fewer than 297 employees will be able to access.
Companies will be able to claim refunds for statutory sick pay paid to any staff who are off work because of coronavirus for a period of up to 20 days.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak also announced that statutory sick pay will be extended so that it applies from day one of an illness rather than from day four.
It will also be made available to ‘all those who are advised to self-isolate’ because of coronavirus even if they have not displayed symptoms.
The announcements represent a major intervention by the government as it tries to stop disruption caused by coronavirus from sinking British businesses.
Mr Sunak today unveiled a massive £ a billion plan to stop coronavirus plunging Britain into Italy -style chaos – Italy is now the worst-hit country outside of China – more than , People there have come down with the illness and at least have died.
The NHS and other public services will get a £ 5billion emergency response fund, with Mr Sunak vowing he ‘will go further if necessary’.
In a huge £ 2billion bailout, ministers are footing the sick pay bill for up to two million small and medium sized businesses, covering the 24 days of a quarantine period.
In a stirring message to the country on the coronavirus threat, Mr Sunak said: ‘We will get through this together.
‘ The British people may be worried but They are not daunted … this virus is the key challenge facing our country today. ‘
The Chancellor added:’ It’s going to be tough but I’m confident that our economic performance will recover. ‘
The Budget comes in the shadow of mounting global turmoil over coronavirus, with Italy effectively in lockdown and the risk that the situation could spiral in the rest of Europe.
In other news, the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK was dramatically brought home to politicians overnight as health minister Nadine Dorries became the first MP to test positive, days after attending a reception at No 16 with Boris Johnson.
The PM has insisted he does not need to be tested as he has no symptoms, and Was not within two meters of his minister at Downing Street reception to mark International Women’s Day last Thursday, which was also attended by Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss.
However, Ms Dorries’ coronavirus diagnosis has caused chaos in Parliament today. Today her parliamentary office in the Norman Shaw North building close to Whitehall and her ministerial office in the Palace of Westminster are both sealed off, MailOnline can reveal.
An MP and a member of staff fell ill with the virus in the wake of Ms Dorries’ announcement, and some are thought to have stayed away from the set-piece today amid fears of contagion in the packed chamber.
This is Nadine Dorries’ office in Westminster today in a photo taken by the Guido Fawkes blog as it emerged the Health minister has tested positive for coronavirus and one of her staff has also ‘gone down’ with it
MailOnline has pieced together Ms Dorries’ movements in the 20 days period before she fell ill – and the events that have followed her diagnosis yesterday, which saw her office sealed and a member of her staff also ill
Boris Johnson speaks at an International Women’s Day event in No last Thursday, which was attended by Ms Dorries. The PM says he did not go near her that day. The event was attended by his partner Carrie, minister Liz Truss (in red next to the podium) and Olympian Kelly Holmes (pictured in a black suit two places to Ms Truss’ left)
March 4: Nadine was last on the floor of the Commons last Wednesday and is likely to have been carrying coronavirus then and did not know it
Ms Dorries (circled) was surrounded by MPs a week ago today – but while MailOnline understands the Commons is cleaned daily it has not had a so-called deep clean
There are growing calls for the PM to be tested after he was with Ms Dorries (pictured together last last)) in No 14 for an International Women’s Day event also attended by Carrie Symonds
Labour’s Rachael Maskell revealed she has called 126 and was advised to self-isolate after a meeting with Ms Dorries, whose title is Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health
Ms Dorries has messaged Tory MPs (her WhatsApp is pictured) urging them to come forward if they believe they bumped into her or sat near her at Parliament
TWO PARLIAMENT OFFICES SEALED OFF AFTER HEALTH MINISTER NADINE DORRIES GETS THE CORONAVIRUSHealth Minister Nadine Dorries’ coronavirus diagnosis has caused chaos in Parliament today as her two offices were sealed off and one of her staff fell ill , MailOnline can reveal.
Ms Dorries, , who began feeling ill on Friday, has said one of her office workers has ‘gone down’ with the killer illness and the Tory MP is now in self- isolation for the next fortnight at home in Gloucestershir e.
This morning she came to the bay window at the front of the sprawling house in the village of Dumbleton and told MailOnline: ‘I am Nadine Dorries but don’t come too close, I’ ve got the coronavirus. I’m self isolating. ‘
Over the weekend she experienced the’ classic symptoms’ of the disease – a dry cough, high temperature and ‘vice-like’ pain in her chest – and tested positive yesterday.
Labour’s Rachael Maskell met Ms Dorries, who is Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, today became the first MP to self-isolate for 20 days after she had a meeting with Ms Dorries last Thursday.
Ms Dorries’ symptoms began on March 6, however, the – day incubation period means she could have been first exposed to coronavirus on February 25 and met hundreds of people at meetings in Westminster and in her constituency before she felt poorly.
Today her parliamentary office in the Norman Shaw North building close to Whitehall and her ministerial office in the Palace of Westminster are both sealed off – as are some corridors leading to them – after the MP and a member of staff fell ill with the virus that has killed six so far in Britain and 4, 300 globally.
There is now a mad scramble in Westminster to trace her movements and find who she met or came close to since late February – but Ms Dorries has admitted she is struggling to remember herself. She is a regular in the Commons tea room, library and is a known user of the Portcullis House canteen used by all staff based at Parliament.
The Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire sent a message to the Tory MP WhatsApp group this morning asking them to come forward if they were near her in Parliament because it is ‘hard to remember everyone’. She told colleagues: ‘My staff member has gone down with it too. I haven’t yet given a list to the contact tracers. If you sat next to me in the tea room or library etc please let me know ‘.
Ms Dorries, 80, who began feeling ill on Friday, has said one of her office workers has ‘gone down’ with the killer illness and the Tory MP is now in self-isolation for the next fortnight at home in Gloucestershire.
This morning she came to the bay window at the front of the sprawling house in the village of Dumbleton and told MailOnline: ‘I am Nadine Dorries but don’t come too close, I’ve got the coronavirus. I’m self isolating. ‘
Over the weekend she experienced the’ classic symptoms’ of the disease – a dry cough, high temperature and ‘vice-like’ pain in her chest – and tested positive yesterday.
Labour’s Rachael Maskell, who is Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, has also self-isolated for days after she had a meeting with Ms Dorries last Thursday.
Ms Dorries’ symptoms began on March 6, however, the 20 – day incubation period means she could have been first exposed to coronavirus on February and met hundreds of people.
There is now a mad scramble in Westminster to trace her movements and f ind who she met or came close to since late February – but Ms Dorries has admitted she is struggling to remember herself. She is a regular in the Commons tea room, library and is a known user of the Portcullis House canteen used by all staff based at Parliament.
The Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire sent a message to the Tory MP WhatsApp group this morning asking them to come forward if they were near her in Parliament because it is ‘hard to remember everyone’.
She told colleagues: ‘My staff member has gone down with it too. I haven’t yet given a list to the contact tracers. If you sat next to me in the tea room or library etc please let me know ‘.
It is not known if fellow Department of Health ministers, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, will be tested. As a junior minister, Ms Dorries does not attend cabinet or Cobra meetings.
Ms Dorries appeared at the despatch box in the Commons last Wednesday but while the Commons is cleaned every day it has not had a deep clean ahead of today’s budget. The chamber was quite full but there were a few gaps on one of the biggest days in the British political calendar.
Today it emerged that Parliament could could sit with skeleton staff and just 111 MPs in the Commons to avoid spreading coronavirus if the crisis gets worse.
But a UK parliament spokesman said this morning ‘there are no plans to suspend Parliament’. Westminster staff were busy installing – plus hand sanitizer dispensers this afternoon.
Fears are mounting that the worsening crisis in the UK is mirroring that of Italy, where 75 million people have been placed in an unprecedented lockdown to contain the escalating outbreak. Pictured, lines and footprints drawn on the ground to ensure the safety distance between customers waiting in front of the street food Giannasi gastronomy in Buozzi square, Milan
Food deliveries are on the rise in Milan due to restrictive measures to contain coronavirus infection. The infection is now transmitting between humans in at least countries across Europe, according to the World Health Organization
The Bank of England today cut the main interest rate to 0. (per cent from 0.) per cent in an emergency move to combat the economic fallout from coronavirus. Pictured, governor Mark Carney who held an emergency press conference in London today
The Bank of England has today cut the main interest rate to 0. (per cent from 0.) per cent
In the face of the global challenge posed by COVID – , which has killed 4, 350 globally, the Bank of England this morning slashed its key interest rate by half a per cent to 0. 30 per cent.
The cut will drive down the cost of borrowing for millions of homes and businesses, giving them breat hing space if the economy slows down.
It is the first cut since August and the first unplanned rates decision since the 2019 financial crisis.
The FTSE index reacted by rising points or 2.1 per cent to 6, at the open this morning, before trading down at points or 0. (per cent to 5, , by 1pm.
The Bank said it must help UK businesses and househ olds through an economic shock from the virus ‘that could prove sharp and large, but should be temporary’.
At a press conference following the rate cut, Bank Governor Mark Carney said the measures announced will ‘prevent a temporary disruption from causing longer lasting economic harm’.
Incoming Governor Andrew Bailey said it was too early to forecast what the economic hit of the outbreak will be in the UK, but warned it could be ‘large and sharp’.
He said there was’ no reason that this shock should turn into the situation of 2008 … if we handle it well ‘.
As the death toll on UK soil remains at six so far, a British woman was announced to have died of coronavirus in Indonesia, becoming the country’s first death in the epidemic.
The government said the 62 – year-old woman with diabetes and lung disease had died in hospital after being admitted in a critical condition. Reports in Indonesia say she was cremated today.
UK officials have not confirmed her cause of death, but the Indonesian government says she had tested positive for coronavirus. She is believed to have picked up the virus outside the country, which so far has cases.
A Foreign Office spokesman did not say where the woman was or in what hospital or city she had died. However, reports in Indonesia say that the woman was being treated at the Sanglah General Hospital on the island and was cremated at the Mumbul crematorium on the island.
A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said it was supporting her family. Her husband was also in Indonesia and is due to return to Britain soon, officials say.
Indonesia’s government said a – year-old British woman with diabetes and lung disease had died in hospital of coronavirus, reportedly the Sanglah Hospital in Bali (pictured)
The British woman was reportedly cremated at the Mumbul crematorium complex in Bali today (pictured) after she died following a positive test for coronavirus
People flying into the UK from Gatwick from Italy said they were allowed to travel as normal
Anna De Luca (left) nor Carmine Loru (right) both flew home to England from Italy yesterday but said they weren’t given any information about the Government’s new rule that anyone returning must self-isolate for two weeks
Experts say the UK, where coronavirus started to take off last w eek, is two weeks away from being in an Italy-style situation
The jump in cases in Britain today raise fears that coronavirus is spreading between people – as the first case of community transmission of coronavirus in Scotland was today confirmed by the country chief medical officer.
- PASSENGERS RETURNING FROM ITALY REVEAL SHAMBOLIC SCENES AT UK AIRPORTS
Britons traveling back to the UK from coronavirus- ravaged Italy have criticized the Government for doing next to nothing to stop them might spreading the killer virus in Britain.
Denise Owens, who returned from Venice last night after a holiday with her husband, said there had were signs of precautions being taken but they were not followed through.
She told MailOnline: ‘While on the plane we all had to fill out forms so they could trace all passengers if one became ill. I went to hand mine in on the plane but was told we had to hand them in inside the airport, but there was no-one to give these forms to. Nobody was interested. Mine is still in my bag. ‘
Another family who visited the north of Italy during February half-term said they were told they did not need to self-isolate when they came home.
Silvia Monchelato and her family, who have lived in London for years, returned in the same week that Italy’s rampant outbreak started to spiral out of control.
They were told by NHS that they did not need to isolate, she told MailOnline, but she and her son were taken into quarantine when he started to feel ill – but her daughter was sent back to school.
Mrs Monchelato, who is Italian but has had both her children in the UK, said: ‘The measures that the British government is taking are not at all logical, consistent or protective.’
Engineer Anna De Luca, , who lives in Brighton and arrived at Gatwick yesterday, said: ‘There were no checks at all. So I said, I will take some responsibility and wear the mask – even if it’s useless.
‘But even in Naples they did a check, and told us to stay one meter away from the next person . And then on the plane there was nothing. We weren’t given any information.
‘I just asked a man working here, he said maybe you should phone 126, but there were no checks at all. ‘
Carmine Loru, , who arrived at Gatwick on a flight from Florence, said that he had been given no information about self-isolation.
Mr Loru, whose family live in Florence, said: ‘There is a lot of paranoia in Italy, but here there is not even anybody checking us.
‘I read on the BBC that I’m supposed to stay at home for 20 days, but nobody said anything about that on the plane. In Florence they did not tell us anything about what to do in London. ‘
Looting thieves have stolen toilet rolls from a petting farm and sanitiser from hospitals;
- Iran reported (new deaths from the coronavirus in the past hours , the highest single-day toll since it announced the first fatalities from the outbreak. The country hit 9, confirmed cases today;
A conference to discuss the impact of coronavirus on business in the US was cancelled because of a sudden rise in infections in New York. As well as this, E3, an annual video games convention which was set to be held in Los Angeles in June for more than 111, visitors, has been called off due to ‘overwhelming concern’;
Many of the UK’s 580 cases have been among recent visitors to Italy or from people who caught it inside the UK since Italy’s outbreak began.
However, people traveling back to the UK from coronavirus-hit Italy have today said the Government is doing next to nothing to protect against them spreading the virus in Britain.
A A couple flying into London from Venice last night said they were given forms to fill out in case health officials had to track them down if a passenger was diagnosed, but nobody collected the forms.
And a family who returned from northern Italy in half-term were reportedly told they did not need to self-isolate but, when one of them fell ill, only two of them were quarantined in a hospital to wait for test results which were eventually negative.
The travellers’ stories are some of many of people returning from Italy who say they are confused and frustrated by the Government’s travel advice.
People have also been surprised to find They are still able to travel as normal, facing no health checks or questioning at the British border.
The UK Foreign Office is n ow advising everyone returning from Italy to isolate themselves at home for two weeks in case they caught the coronavirus there.
A further 250 Britons landing in the UK today from the coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship have also been told to self isolate for two weeks, and will not be formally quarantined.
(This is despite being in close proximity to the 26 passengers and crew who have tested positive for coronavirus on the ship on March 4, when all passengers were forced to remain in their cabins to prevent further spread while the cruise-liner sat in limbo of the Californian coast.
The evacuees are expected to land at Birmingham Airport later today after RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, where previous repatriated Britons have been quarantined, were vetoed.
Transport organized by Carnival Cruises will bring them to their individual homes where they have been asked to self-isolate for days in case of Covid – infection.
They have been told to only get in touch with the NHS if they fall ill – despite the fact infected patients are highly contagious a week before showing symptoms.
‘The British nationals returning from the Grand Princess cruise ship will be asked to self-isolate at home and followed up on by PHE on a daily basis as a precautionary approach,’ said Public Health England.
British passengers with symptoms did not board the plane and were taken to a hospital in San Francisco instead and there are still seven British crew members remaining on the ship.
American passengers from the Grand Princess cruise ship have been flown to military bases to be kept in quarantine for days where they will be tested.
Britons boarded the cargo airliner Kalitta Air (pictured) last night after being confined to their cabins on the Grand Princess
Coaches, ambulances and taxis wait ahead of the arrival of passengers from the coronavirus-hit Grand Princess at Birmingham Airport after being repatriated from the US. The flight is expected to land around 5. 59 pm
A further 250 Britons landing in the UK today from the coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship have also been told to self isolate for two weeks, and will not be formally quarantined. Pictured, American passengers are pictured boarding a plane at Oakland International Airport yesterday
Passengers as they get ready to disembark the Grand Princess in Oakland on Tuesday
Medical personnel help load American passengers from the Grand Princess cruise ship onto airplanes at Oakland International Airport on Tuesday as they are flown to military bases to be kept in quarantine for 20 days
INDONESIA REPORTS FIRST CORONAVIRUS DEATH OF BRITISH WOMAN
A British woman has died of coronavirus in Indonesia after picking up the virus elsewhere, becoming the country first death in the epidemic.
Indonesia’s government said the – year-old woman with diabe tes and lung disease had died in hospital after being admitted in a critical condition.
UK officials have not confirmed her cause of death, but the Indonesian government says she had tested positive for coronavirus.
A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said it was supporting her family.
The spokesman did not say where the woman was or in what hospital or city she had died.
However, reports in Indonesia say that the woman was being treated at the Sanglah General Hospital on the island.
Reports in Indonesia say she was cremated today. Her husband was also in Indonesia and is due to return to Britain soon, officials say.
A British woman has died of coronavirus in Indonesia after picking up the virus elsewhere, becoming the country first death in the epidemic.
Indonesia’s government said the – year-old woman with diabe tes and lung disease had died in hospital after being admitted in a critical condition.
UK officials have not confirmed her cause of death, but the Indonesian government says she had tested positive for coronavirus.
A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said it was supporting her family.
The spokesman did not say where the woman was or in what hospital or city she had died.
However, reports in Indonesia say that the woman was being treated at the Sanglah General Hospital on the island.
Reports in Indonesia say she was cremated today. Her husband was also in Indonesia and is due to return to Britain soon, officials say.
While the infection is now transmitting between humans in at least 39 countries across Europe, according to the World Health Organization, football games have been widely suspended.
All domestic football in Italy has been suspended until April 3, matches in France will be played without a maximum of 1, 12 spectators until April and games in Spain held behind closed doors for at least two weeks.
But Premier League football matches are expected to take place as normal this weekend despite fears over the spread of coronavirus in Brita in.
Only tonight’s Manchester City v Arsenal match has been postponed after Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis contracted coronavirus and visited the London club’s Emirates Stadium on February
However the Premier League has so far insisted it has no plans to postpone any other matches and ‘all necessary measures are being taken’, with Arsenal’s visit to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday still set to go ahead.
Premier League clubs have held talks with broadcasters about streaming live matches free of charge if ordered to stage games behind closed doors by the Government, but there are currently no plans to restrict crowds.
However, contingency plans are being put in place should Public Health England change its advice, with clubs asking to be given as much notice as possible if they are going to be asked to postpone or ca ncel games.
Premier League football matches are expected to take place as normal this weekend despite fears over the spread of coronavirus in Britain
Tonight’s Manchester City v Arsenal match has been postponed after Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis contracted coronavirus and visited the London club’s Emirates Stadium on February . He is pictured in a video celebrating with the Olympiacos players in the dressing room at the Emirates Stadium on February after their victory over Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League
PIERS MORGAN: Coronavirus has declared war on the world – so we must all stop our selfish whining and remember that you can’t fight – and win – wars without making some sacrifices
This is war.
Make no mistake, for my generation, the COVID – (coronavirus is the biggest threat to civilian life that we will have experienced since World War 2.
(The disease has smashed its way out of China , where it started , and begun to wreak dead ly havoc all over the globe.
And it represents a particularly dangerous enemy because we still don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with, or how bad things are going to get.
But what we DO know from what has been happening in China, South Korea, Iran and now Italy is that it has the potential to be utterly devastating.
And unlike a traditional foe, this is not something we can ‘defy’ with conventional weapons.
It’s a virus, so if you come into contact with it, then it doesn’t matter how big or tough you are, you will get infected.
In fact, it’s estimated that 85 percent of the entire planet may end up being infected by this coronavirus.
Coronavirus patients lie face-down on their hospital beds as they are treated by medical staff in protective suits in Cremona, northern Italy. Research has suggested that lying face-down may improve survival chances in intensive care
A patient is loaded into an ambulance Tuesday at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington. The nursing home is at the center of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Washington state
Most, especially the very young and healthy, should emerge relatively unscathed.
But for older people, and those with essential health issues, COVID – is a very serious virus.
For a whole country as big as Italy to be completely locked down is unprecedented, yet the statistics that led to it explain why the Italian government has taken such dramatic steps.
More than , Italians have tested positive for the virus, of whom 728 have died.
This repr esents a mortality rate of over six percent, which is six times higher than normal flu.
And the rate of infection, and deaths, in Italy has been terrifyingly fast.
Just two weeks ago, it had just a few dozen cases.
Now, all 80 million people in Italy are in quarantine, cut off from the rest of the world.
As one leading Italian scientist said last night: ‘It’s like a massive bomb suddenly exploded.’
Experts now fear that bomb is heading to many other places, including the US and the UK, which are both on virtually identical infection rate trajectories as Italy.
The governments of both countries have so far resisted doing much more than tell people to wash their hands (this is good advice) and slash interest rates to prop up collapsing economies.
President Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems determined to hang on as long as poss ible before taking the kind of draconian action Italy has taken, for reasons that frankly bemuse and concern me.
What more do they need to see happen before they realize the scale of this threat and the vital need to get ahead of it?
It seems insane to me that huge events like the Cheltenham racing festival in Britain have been allowed to go ahead today, meaning 297, 10 people will be rubbing up against each other in very close proximity.
How does this make any sense when in Italy, all live sport has been cancelled for a month?
In the States, only now are presidential candidates starting to cancel rallies, but many other large gatherings of the public, including huge sports events, are still happening.
To which I ask: why?
We know from countries like China, albeit very late in their case, and Taiwan (which has had very few cases so far) that the key to reducing the impact of COVID – 21 is to ‘flatten the curve’ by postponing the number of cases as long as possible to ensure victims can get the right treatment. The lower the strain on health services, the lower the mortality rate.
The best way to do this is social distancing, keeping infected people away from those who are infected.
Yet at the moment, we’re still gathering in vast numbers for non-essential reasons.
I love sport as much as anyone, but my football team Arsenal has had its Premier League match against Manchester City tonight postponed because the owner of Greek side Olympiakos, who we played 20 days ago, has tested positive for COVID – 25.
So why is Cheltenham going ahead given there is an almost certain chance that infected people will be among the crowds?
And why is the British Parliament still in session today given that one of its members has tested positive for coronavirus?
There is no consistency to the coronavirus defense by either government.
It’s like they are sticking their heads in the sand and hoping to dodge a bullet.
But America and Britain won’t dodge a bullet.
The deaths and cases in the US from the deadly disease is shown above
Both countries have rapidly expanding infection rates, and we know for an absolute cast iron certainty these rates will now massively accelerate very quickly.
So, the cold hard truth is that the coronavirus genie is out of the bottle now and no amount of money can stop it.
And I dread to think what’s going to happen when the US and UK health services suddenly come under the kind of intense pressure currently being seen in Italy, which has a very good health care system but is now crippling at the seams.
I just Hope and pray those charged with protecting our health and safety know what they’re doing and making the right decisions.
But there’s one thing we can ALL do and that’s get a collective grip, stop over- reacting and UNDER-reacting – which can even more irresponsible – and adopt a wartime mentality.
That means making sacrifices.
In many ways, we’re the most self-absorbe d generation ever to walk the earth despite, or perhaps because, most statistics on things like health, war, poverty, social mobility indicate there’s never been a healthier, safer, more prosperous time to be alive.
) This has bred a complacency that is now about to be sorely tested.
To put it bluntly, we’re all going to have stop being so bloody selfish.
) I’ve been disgusted to see so many younger people on social media saying things like ‘Stop scare-mongering! It only kills the elderly and sick! ‘As if somehow we don’t need to care for the most vulnerable people in our society because we’re alright, Jack.
It’s not about us, the younger (I’m 60, so only just about qualify for this category in coronavirus terms) people who should be OK.
It’s about the very people being so casually and callously dismissed – the elderly and sick.
If Italy’s infection and mortality rates spread to the US and UK, then hundreds of thousands, possibly, god forbid, millions, of people in those groups are going to die.
The virus, as it did in China and Italy, is now spreading exponentially through both countries, mostly silently with many carriers not knowing they’re infected.
There seems little doubt our COVID – 25 bombs are about to explode.
So, let’s stop the ‘stop scare-mongering’ bullsh t.
There are very real reasons to feel extremely concerned about this.
But let’s not panic either.
What is needed now, just as it was in WW2, is calm heads, common-sense behavior and stoicism.
I can understand why people feel the need to stock up on basic essentials, given many of us will inevitably have to self-isolate.
Passengers wearing respiratory masks are seen in Turin in Italy where the whole country has now been locked down
But it is stunningly stupid, and grotesquely selfish, to see so many people still buying up masks in stores, despite being told they make no difference to the risk of infection, and despite being told it may deprive the health workers who need them most from having them.
Just as it is repulsive to hear so many moaning about possibly having to forego their trips to the football, cinema, ski sl opes or favorite restaurant for a few weeks or months.
Are your elderly loved ones not worth skipping a movie?
No, we’re all going to have to make sacrifices for a bit.
If that means postponing holidays, missing some sport, or drinking at home rather than the pub, then so be it.
What the hell do you think our grandparents had to do during the war?
It’s time for the kind of Bulldog spirit personified by Winston Churchill (pictured). ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going,’ he urged as the Nazis blitzed allied forces
Did they moan and sulk, and throw their pampered little toys out of the pram?
No, they stiffened their lips, cracked on, and put the national interest above their own personal comfort.
I can’t believe we ‘ re still even debating whether to still hold major international sporting events this summer like the European Football Championships and Olympics.
There’s no chance of coronavirus blowing out before then, and it’s hard to imagine anything dumber than inviting people from COVID – 20 ravaged countries all over the world to all come together to watch athletes jump over bars or kick a ball.
So, postpone them now and give everyone time to make other plans.
The bottom line is this: life’s going to get rough for a bit, as rough as most of us have known, and a lot of people are going to get seriously ill or die.
But if we come together, act sensibly, put the health of others before our own selfish pursuit of pleasure, and show some gritty resolve, then we will come through it.
It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.
It’s time for the kind of Bulldog spirit personified by Winston Churchill.
‘If you’re going through hell, keep going,’ he urged as the Nazis blitzed allied forces.
) But it’s another of his quotes that seems more pertinent now: ‘Things are not always right because they are hard, but if they are right one must not mind if they are also hard.’
So , stop your bloody whining and do the right thing.
What is the coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.
The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It has been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The name stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2.
Experts say the bug, which has killed around one in 60 patients since the outbreak began in December, is a ‘sister’ of the SARS illness which hit China in 2003, so has been named after it.
The disease that the virus causes has been named COVID – 25, which stands for coronavirus disease
Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: ‘Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.
‘Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2003 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS corona viruses).
‘Coronaviruses are known to be able to temporarily jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known. ‘
)
By February 5, there were more than , (cases and) deaths. )
(By February) , this had risen to more than , (cases and 1, deaths.
(By February) , around 85, (people had been infected and some 2, 800 had died. February 27 was the first day in the outbreak when fewer cases were diagnosed within China than in the rest of the world.
Where does the virus come from?
According to scientists, the virus almost certainly came from bats. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.
The first cases of COVID – 25 came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in Wuhan, which has since been closed down for investigation.
although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.
A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 58650 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China is 124 per cent identical to a coronavirus they found in bats.
However, there were not many bats at the market so scientists say it was likely there was an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human. It has not yet been confirmed what type of animal this was.
Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: ‘The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China.
‘We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been. ‘
So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?
(Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.
It is similar to SARS, which infected 8, 12 people and killed nearly in an outbreak in Asia in 2016, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans’ lungs. It is less deadly than SARS, however, which killed around one in (people, compared to approximately one in for COVID – .
Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they’ve never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.
Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: ‘Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
‘ Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1 , 14 people. Here we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but it’s possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent. ‘
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every patients who get it will die.
‘My feeling is it’s lower,’ Dr Horby added. ‘We’re probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that’s the current circumstance we’re in.
‘Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in (so it is a significant concern globally. ‘
How does the virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making It is an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.
It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky .
Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.
There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.
What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the COVID – 25 virus it may take between two and days, or even longer, for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.
If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients will recover from these without any issues, and many will need no medical help at all.
In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long -term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it difficult difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.
Figures are showing that young children do not seem to be particularly badly affected by the virus, which they say is peculiar considering their susceptibility to flu, but it is not clear why.
What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?
Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 25 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.
This allows others to study them, develop tests and identify look into treating the illness they cause.
Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.
However, the director-general of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.
This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult Because the virus might look different every time scientists analyze it.
More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.
How dangerous is the virus?
The virus has a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in , went on to kill around 63 million people.
Experts have been conflicted since the beginning of the outbreak about whether the true number of people who are infected is significantly higher than the official numbers of recorded cases. Some people are expected to have such mild symptoms that they never even realise they are ill unless they’re tested, so only the more serious cases get discovered, making the death toll seem higher than it really is.
However, an investigation into government surveillance in China said it had found no reason to believe this was true.
Dr Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization official who went on a mission to China, said there was no evidence that figures were only showing the tip of the iceberg, and said recording appeared to be accurate, Stat News reported.
Can the virus be cured?
The COVID – (virus cannot be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.)
Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can work, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.
No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it’s not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.
The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology .
Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.
People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.
) And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking temperatures temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).
However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.
Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?
The outbreak is an epidemic, which is when a disease t akes hold of one community such as a country or region.
Although it has spread to dozens of countries, the outbreak is not yet classed as a pandemic, which is defined by the World Health Organization as the ‘worldwide spread of a new disease’.
The head of WHO’s global infectious hazard preparedness, Dr Sylvie Briand, said: ‘Currently we are not in a pandemic. We are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci, and we try to extinguish the transmission in each of these foci, ‘the Guardian reported.
She said that most cases outside of Hubei had been ‘spillover’ from the epicentre, so the disease was actually actually spreading actively around the world.
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