The government is refusing to rule out placing entire cities on lockdown\u00a0if the UK experiences a widespread\u00a0coronavirus\u00a0outbreak, according to the health secretary.<\/p>\n
Matt Hancock\u00a0said he would not take anything \u201coff the table at this stage\u201d when asked about a\u00a0Wuhan-style\u00a0quarantine\u00a0by BBC\u2019s Andrew Marr on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s clearly a huge economic and social downside to that but we don\u2019t take anything off the table at this stage because you\u2019ve got to make sure that you have all of the tools available if that is what\u2019s necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The health secretary\u00a0added:\u00a0\u201cI want to minimise the social and economic disruption, and at this stage we still have the hope \u2013 although the numbers elsewhere are rising fast \u2013 we still have the hope that we might be able to avoid this outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said a research paper suggesting\u00a0half a million people in the UK could die in the event of a flu pandemic was a \u201creasonable worst-case scenario\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is based on what could happen in the event of a pandemic flu,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201dThose planning assumptions have been out in the public domain for many years and that\u2019s what we have been working with in our practice sessions before this virus existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a projection for this particular virus, not least because outside of\u00a0China\u00a0it is still in its early stages.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government is also looking at banning public gatherings and football matches, closing schools and encouraging people to avoid public transport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at all options, including those, but we will only look at things that epidemiologically and scientifically make sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying any of these are decisions we have taken but they are things we don\u2019t rule out, to close some schools but right now people should not opt to be closing schools if there isn\u2019t a case and advice from Public Health England.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday\u00a0three more people in England tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the UK total to 23. Outside of the UK, a British man has died after contracting coronavirus onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Japan\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0government\u2019s \u201cbattle plan\u201d in the event of a worsening outbreak\u00a0includes asking recently-retired doctors and nurses to work in the\u00a0NHS\u00a0and urging the public to work from home.<\/p>\n
However Mr Hancock also sought to reassure the public that the virus could be contained in the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is very clear,\u201d he told Sky News.\u00a0\u201dFirstly, to contain this virus. That\u2019s the stage we\u2019re in now, we hope that we can succeed in doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 3,000 people have died of coronavirus worldwide, with over 86,000 confirmed cases. The vast majority are in China, the centre of the outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government is refusing to rule out placing entire cities on lockdown\u00a0if the UK experiences a widespread\u00a0coronavirus\u00a0outbreak, according to the health secretary. Matt Hancock\u00a0said he would not take anything \u201coff the table at this stage\u201d when asked about a\u00a0Wuhan-style\u00a0quarantine\u00a0by BBC\u2019s Andrew Marr on Sunday. \u201cThere\u2019s clearly a huge economic and social downside to that but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090,2],"tags":[3086,369,1532],"class_list":["post-36850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-featured","tag-coronavirus","tag-health","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"\n