The UK has reported 456 coronavirus cases and 6 deaths. Here's what we know about how the virus is spreading across Britain.
The UK had reported 456 coronavirus cases and six deaths linked to the virus as of Wednesday morning.
A sixth person died on Tuesday after two others passed away on Monday.
A health minister in Boris Johnson's government has tested positive for the virus.
The Bank of England has slashed interest rates in an emergency move to stave off the economic impact of the virus.
Johnson's government expects to virus to "spread in a significant way" in the coming days and weeks.
Officials are considering plans to order the public to work at home for at least three months.
The UK has reported a total of 456 coronavirus cases and six deaths linked to the virus.
A patient in their early 80s with underlying health conditions passed away on Tuesday after testing positive for coronavirus, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust announced.
Two people died on Monday after catching the virus. Three people with underlying health conditions died last week.
Nadine Dorries, a health minister in Boris Johnson's UK government, on Tuesday evening revealed that she had tested positive for coronavirus and was in isolation.
Johnson's government expects the virus to "spread in a significant way" in the coming days and weeks, his spokesperson said on Monday afternoon.
The coronavirus causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19. More than 4,000 people have died and more than 110,000 others have been infected worldwide, mostly in China. Cases have been recorded in at least 105 countries.
The UK has seen a rising number of cases of "community spread": people with no known exposure to others with the virus or travel history to countries where outbreaks have been reported.
For the latest global case total, death toll, and travel information, see Business Insider's live updates here.
Kieran Corcoran and Alison Millington contributed reporting to this post.
UK sets up second drive-thru coronavirus test site
REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
The UK has set up drive-thru coronavirus test sites as the number of cases across the country surged.
Health authorities have set up a new site in Wolverhampton, England, as part of a drive to ramp up the number of tests being carried out every day to 10,000, Sky News reported.
The first drive-thru test centre opened in Edinburgh, Scotland, in February.
Number of confirmed coronavirus cases in UK rises to 456
REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
A total of 456 people in the UK have now tested positive for coronavirus, the Department for Health said, up from 373 yesterday. Six people have so far died.
UK Chancellor reveals emergency coronavirus measures
Reuters
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed a package of emergency measures to shore up the UK economy ahead of a likely coronavirus epidemic.
He told Members of Parliament that he would inject a £30 billion fiscal stimulus into the economy.
Among the measures are the scrapping of business rates for small businesses this year and a boost for funding of the NHS.
Read his full plans for the economy here.
Michael Gove says the next round of Brexit trade talks might have to be cancelled
BBC
The next round of trade talks between the UK and EU might have to be cancelled due to coronavirus, government minister Michael Gove has suggested.
Gove, who is overseeing UK preparations for life after Brexit, told MPs that it was a "live question" whether the talks scheduled for next week would go ahead as planned.
Boris Johnson will not be tested for coronavirus
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be tested for the coronavirus despite recently meeting with his health minister who has now been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Members of Parliament self-isolate as coronavirus fear spreads through Westminster
UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
Members of Parliament who met with the coronavirus-afflicted Health Minister Nadine Dorries last week are self-isolating as fears of an outbreak in Parliament rise.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell tweeted that she had been advised to stay at home after meeting with Dorries on Thursday.
—Rachael Maskell MP (@RachaelMaskell) March 11, 2020
Maskell also called on the Prime Minister to take similar measures, having also met with Dorries last week.
—Tom Rayner (@RaynerSkyNews) March 11, 2020
Manchester City's fixture against Arsenal is postponed
Getty/Robbie Jay Barratt
Manchester City's game versus Arsenal scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed, making it the first Premier League fixture to be impacted by coronavirus.
The decision was taken to postpone the game after it emerged that Arsenal players had recently interacted with Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who has contracted the virus.
Bank of England slashes interest rates to 0.25% in emergency coronavirus move
Jim Edwards
The Bank of England has slashed interest rates in an emergency move to alleviate the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.
Rates will be cut from 0.75% to 0.25%
A minister in Boris Johnson's government has caught coronavirus
Reuters TV via REUTERS
UK health minister Nadine Dorries has caught coronavirus.
Dorries, a minister in Boris Johnson's government, announced on Tuesday evening that she was in isolation after first experiencing COVID-19 symptoms last week.
She had interacted with the prime minister in the days leading up to her diagnosis.
382 people in the UK have tested positive for COVID-19 and 6 people have died
A woman wears a mask in central London.
Ilyas Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
382 people have so far tested positive for coronavirus in the UK.
In total six people have died in the UK after having contracting COVID-19.
A patient in their 80s becomes is the sixth person to die after catching coronavirus
Reuters
A patient in their early 80s with underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said on Tuesday.
They are the sixth person in Britain to pass away after catching the COVID-19 virus.
Coronavirus forces major football teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona to play behind closed doors
Getty/NurPhoto
Some of the world's biggest football teams will play in empty stadiums tonight and tomorrow as the sport's authorities try to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Four fixtures in Europe's most prestigious club competition — The Champions League — will be played behind closed doors. They are:
Bayern Munich vs Chelsea
Valencia vs Atalanta
PSG vs Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona vs Napoli
And on Thursday, Manchester United's Europa League game against LASK in Linz, Austria will also be played behind closed doors.
International football is being impacted, too.
Ticket sales for Northern Ireland's Euro 2020 play-off game versus Bosnia-Herzegovina have been postponed. Tickets were scheduled to go on sale tomorrow.
British Airways cancels all Italian flights
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
British Airways has announced that it has cancelled all flights to and from Italy.
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday morning that the government has booked a hotel near Heathrow airport in order to isolate people arriving from Italy.
The Italian government on Monday took the extraordinary step of putting the entire population on lock down. Over 9,000 people have been infected there, with 464 deaths, as of Tuesday morning.
A fifth person dies after testing positive for coronavirus
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
A fifth person has died as a result of catching the virus, NHS England announced late on Monday afternoon.
UK citizens with even mild symptoms of coronavirus will soon have to self-isolate for 7 days
Getty
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street alongside the government's chief scientific and medical advisers, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters that:
Attempts to contain the coronavirus are "extremely unlikely" to be effective.
The UK will therefore soo move to delay the peak of the coronavirus because "the more we can delay the peak of the epidemic to the summer the more likely the NHS will be able to cope."
The Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty said that social-distancing methods such as bans on mass gatherings and encouraging people to work at home should not be taken too early as they would be difficult to maintain.
However, he said measures to encourage "self-isolation" of anyone potentially suffering from the virus would likely be taken within the next two weeks.
"Probably within the next 10-14 days [we will] say everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections or a fever, should be self-isolating for seven days afterwards," he told reporters.
—BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 9, 2020
A fourth person has in the UK died after catching coronavirus
ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images
A patient in their 70s with underlying health conditions has become the fourth person in the UK to die after being tested positive for coronavirus.
A spokesperson for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said: "The Trust can confirm that a patient in their 70s being treated for underlying health conditions has died. The patient had tested positive for Covid-19.
"The family has been informed and our condolences and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
"We will not be commenting further and ask that everybody respects the family's privacy."
UK government prepares for coronavirus to 'spread in a significant way'
Frank Augstei n- WPA Pool/Getty Images
Boris Johnson's government remains focused on containing coronavirus but expects it to "spread in a significant way" in the coming days and weeks, his spokesperson said on Monday.
"We remain in the contain phase, but it is now accepted that this virus is going to spread in a significant way and that's why officials have been working at speed on further steps we can take to delay the spread of the virus," the prime minister's spokesperson told journalists at a regular Downing Street briefing attended by Business Insider.
Johnson was still chairing a COBRA meeting with senior ministers and health officials when his spokesperson briefed the UK press at Monday lunchtime.
The prime minister's spokesperson also said:
- Brits returning from quarantined areas of northern Italy are urged to self-isolate for two weeks — even if they do not have coronavirus symptoms.
Johnson's spokesperson said: "For those returning from Italy, Public Health England have advised that anyone returning from locked-down areas should self-isolate for 14 days regardless of whether they show symptoms.
"People returning from the rest of Italy should isolate if they are showing symptoms."
- There are still no plans to close the Houses of Parliament.
"The prime minister set out last week that he didn't believe there was any reason why parliament should close and as much as possible, based on medical advice, it should carry on as normal," they said.
"I would expect [the parliamentary authorities] to be guided by scientific advice."
There were reports last week that Westminster could be closed for five months amid fears that MPs and Lords could be "super-spreaders" of the COVID-19 virus.
The UK economy is plummeting amid coronavirus fears
Reuters
Britain's markets are taking a battering as coronavirus continues to grip the country.
London's FTSE Index fell by almost 9% when trading opened on Monday morning, putting it on course for its biggest fall in a single day since the Lehman Brothers crash in 2008.
UK Chancellor Ruski Sunak is set to announce measures for dealing with the financial impact of the COVID-19 virus when he delivers the government's budget on Wednesday.
European Commission President Von Der Leyen on Monday morning said that the virus had inflicted huge damage on the whole European economy.
"The spread of the virus has a vast impact on people's lives but it also has a vast impact on our economy," she said.
"We are looking into everything that we can do to help to address the impacts on the economy."
Transport for London staff member tests positive for coronavirus
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Transport for London — the organisation responsible for operating London's public transport — says that a member of staff has tested positive for coronavirus.
A TfL spokesperson on Monday said that "a deep clean has taken place within the building used by the staff member."
The staff member reportedly works at one of TfL's above-ground offices and not on the Underground.
Boris Johnson to chair emergency COBRA meeting as the UK moves to delay Coronavirus epidemic
Getty
Boris Johnson will on Monday morning chair an emergency meeting of the UK government's COBRA committee.
The UK Prime Minister will meet with senior ministers and the government's health and scientific advisers.
"The number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the UK and around the world," Johnson will tell the meeting.
"We are well prepared and will continue to make decisions to protect the public based on the latest scientific advice.
"Tackling Coronavirus will require a national and international effort. I am confident the British people are ready to play their part in that.
"The most valuable thing people can do is wash their hands with soap and water for twenty seconds."
The meeting comes as the government prepares to officially move the UK towards the "delay" phase of its four-point action plan for tackling the coronavirus.
The delay phase will likely involve advice to limit human contact and unnecessary travel, with many workers advised to work from home where possible.
A man in his 60s is the third Brit to die after testing positive for coronavirus
Jane Barlow-Pool/Getty Images
A man in his 60s with "significant" underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus, NHS England announced on Sunday.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said: "I am very sorry to report that a third patient in England who tested positive for Covid-19 has sadly died.
"I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their privacy is respected."
The man died at North Manchester General Hospital.
5 new cases were reported in Scotland on Saturday afternoon.
Ralf Roletschek/Wikimedia Commons
According to the BBC, the five extra cases were confirmed by the Scottish government.
Two are in Lanarkshire, the area south of Glasgow.
One is in the greater Glasgow area, another in the Lothian area near Edinburgh, and the fifth further north in the Grampian region.
It brings Scotland's total number of cases to 16.
The second UK coronavirus death was confirmed as a man in his 80s.
Getty
A man in his 80s died at Milton Keynes hospital, England, on Friday, after contracting the coronavirus.
The hospital confirmed that he had tested positive for the virus and died shortly afterwards.
It follows the death of a woman on Thursday, who also died from COVID-19. The woman, who had underlying health conditions and was in her 70s, died in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England.
The latest count is a huge jump from the 164 confirmed UK coronavirus cases that were reported Saturday morning.
Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
The Department of Health's update on Friday afternoon came amid reports of the second death in the UK linked to the virus.
Johnson announced a £46 million package for accelerating efforts to find a coronavirus vaccine.
Frank Augstei n- WPA Pool/Getty Images
"Keeping the British people safe is my number one priority, and that's why I've set out our four-part plan to contain, delay, mitigate and research coronavirus," Johnson said in a statement on Friday.
"We are ensuring the country is prepared for the current outbreak, guided by the science at every stage. But we also need to invest now in researching the vaccines that could help prevent future outbreaks.
"I'm very proud that UK experts — backed by government funding — are on the front line of global efforts to do just that."
UK airlines are running empty flights out of Europe.
Getty
Airlines operating out of Europe have run "ghost" flights, without any passengers on board, during the coronavirus outbreak to get around rules that could see them lose their flight slots.
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has written to regulators asking for a suspension of the rules amid an increasingly gloomy outlook for the industry.
The UK airline Flybe collapsed earlier this week, though it said its financial problems existed long before the outbreak.
There is little chance of a coronavirus vaccine appearing this year.
Getty
The UK's chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program on Friday that this coronavirus outbreak could become an annual outbreak.
Vallance also said it's unlikely a vaccine will be created in time to contain this year's outbreak.
"I don't think we'll get something in time and at scale for this outbreak," he said. "That said, there have been remarkable changes in the ability to make vaccines and discover vaccines just in the last few years. And so things have progressed much more quickly than they would have done in the past, and it's not unreasonable to assume that we will end up with a vaccine and we may do so in a year, 18 months."
—BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) March 6, 2020
British people with flu-like symptoms could be told to stay at home.
Reuters
UK citizens with flu-like symptoms could be told to stay at home even if they haven't traveled to countries heavily affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Other measures, including plans to reduce big gatherings, are also being considered.
"You've got a range of things that you can do to arrest or check the spread of a disease," Johnson said this week. "But you can't fire your shots too early."
Funerals could be livestreamed if the outbreak escalates.
Danny Martindale/Getty Images
Funerals could be affected by any ban on large public gatherings.
The National Association of Funeral Directors told Sky News on Thursday that it had spoken with Johnson's government about the steps it could take if the outbreak becomes an epidemic in the UK.
One option would be to livestream funerals, the group said.
"As well as supporting the government and local authorities in managing the impact of the additional deaths, funeral directors would be focused on helping families who lose a loved one during that time in finding meaningful ways to say goodbye — even if the funeral they would have preferred isn't possible," the group told Sky News.
"One option might include the webcasting of funeral services, as many crematoria now have these facilities — or holding a separate memorial service at a later date."
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty confirmed Britain's first coronavirus-related death on Thursday.
Getty
The woman was thought to have contracted the virus in the UK and hadn't traveled to other countries affected by the outbreak, suggesting it's spreading in the UK.
"I am very sorry to report a patient in England who tested positive for Covid-19 has sadly died," Whitty said.
"I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their request for privacy is respected.
"The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, was an older patient who had underlying health conditions. We believe they contracted the virus in the UK and contact tracing is already underway."
In a statement, Johnson said his "sympathies are very much with the victim and their family."
On Thursday, the number of cases in the UK was at 116.
Reuters
The UK government on Thursday afternoon said the number of cases had risen to 116 from 87 on Wednesday.
Of the cases, 100 were in England, with 25 reported in the capital, London. Eight of the new cases were not people who recently traveled.
Whitty said it was "highly likely" that the virus is being spread in the UK by people who haven't traveled.
He added that it was inevitable that the number of cases in the UK will rise and that it will almost certainly not be possible to prevent an outbreak.
Johnson said school closures "don't work as well" as people might think.
HENRY NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Johnson has sought to play down the threat of the outbreak.
"We need to strike a balance," Johnson told ITV's "Good Morning" on Thursday, adding that there was no need to close schools at this stage.
"Slightly counterintuitively, things like closing schools and stopping big gatherings don't work as well, perhaps, as people think," he said.
He added, "As far as possible, it should be business as usual for the vast majority of people."
The British government has stopped trying to contain the virus and is now trying to delay it, Whitty said on Thursday.
Getty
Whitty said that containing the spread of the virus among the early few patients who caught it is very unlikely and that the government was focused on trying to delay the outbreak until the spring.
Whitty said that approach — which overlaps in many ways with "contain" — had several benefits. Delaying could mean that the National Health Service is in a better position to respond and that the disease could be better managed, possibly with new drugs.
Additionally, delaying an outbreak until the spring or summer could mean the rate of infection goes down, as is generally the case with flu.
What measures are the government considering?
Getty
The government's action plan, published this week, outlined several measures that might be introduced if there is a major outbreak:
Reducing the number of big gatherings, such as Royal Ascot and the Glastonbury Festival, as well as football matches.
Closing schools.
Using the armed forces to support emergency services.
Asking employees across the country to work from home, possibly for about 12 weeks.
Expanding the public information campaign, which encourages people to wash their hands regularly with warm water.
How is the virus affecting the rest of Europe?
Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs
England's Six Nations rugby games against Italy in Rome on March 14 and 15 were postponed.
Italy has put 16 million people on lockdown to control the escalating coronavirus outbreak as the country reports 5,883 COVID-19 cases and 233 deaths.
All professional sports in Italy will be played behind closed doors for a month.
Switzerland reported its first coronavirus death, a 74-year-old woman who died in hospital, on Thursday.
What advice is the government giving about avoiding the coronavirus?
Reuters / Toby Melville
According to the NHS, the best way to avoid catching or spreading the virus is to:
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Always wash your hands when you get home or into work.
Use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze.
Put used tissues in the bin straight away and wash your hands afterward.
Try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth if your hands are not clean.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
REUTERS/Toby Melville
The symptoms of coronavirus include a cough, a high temperature, and shortness of breath.
They don't necessarily mean a person has the illness, however, as they are also similar to illnesses like the common cold or the flu.
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