today's revelation that there are 12 new
confirmed coronavirus cases brings the
total number in the UK to 35 three of
the new patients a close contacts of the
first and covered 19 case to be
transmitted within the UK by the surrey
resident in hazel Mia another of the new
patients is from Essex and they also
have not travelled to an affected area
outside the UK the eight remaining new
cases are from London West Yorkshire
Greater Manchester hartfordshire and
Gloucestershire six of those eight
people had recently travelled from Italy
while two coming from Iran the Prime
Minister will turn emergency Cobra
meeting tomorrow and the government is
expected to release more details of
contingency plans in the next few days
as I sat on 12 new patients it's the
biggest jump in virus cases in a single
day and at this lab that does all the
testing the Prime Minister wants to show
the government is on top of it we found
about 35 people in this country or have
had the illness and clearly there may be
more there may be that that is my clean
outer to spread a bit more and it's
vital therefore that people understand
that we do have a great plan a plan to
tackle the spread of coronavirus and I
am very very confident that in the NHS
we have there are professionals who will
be well able to cope with it most of the
patients had recently traveled to
affected areas or in contact with
someone that had but in two cases it
seems the patient's had not left the
country and could have caught the virus
here in the UK before the spike of cases
was announced I asked the health
secretary about the NHS's ability to
deal with the virus it's one of the
busiest areas of the year is the NHS
ready for a big outbreak of course like
the rest of government the NHS has got
very serious plans in place at the
moment in this contained phase when the
the number of cases is relatively low
the NHS is doing a brilliant job but we
have plans in place to scale up the
respond
from the NHS everybody can play their
part we have a duty in government to
keep people safe but everybody has a
duty to do what they can
washing your hands make sure if you have
a cough or a sneeze that you catch it
and following the advice of clinicians
and the public health advice at this
school where a staff member has tested
positive they've closed for a deep clean
but this parent says the government must
do more if they want to stop the virus
from spreading they should be making
sure that people are isolated children
at both schools and parents should be
isolated for at least two weeks
worldwide the number of infections is
over 87,000 and nearly 3,000 people have
died the first steps in Australia
Thailand and America have been reported
in the country at the center of the
worst outbreak in Europe Italy cases
have reached over a thousand pew stood
empty as Sunday services in churches
were cancelled here in Milan and in
Venice gondolas stay docked on the side
of the bank
amid the corona virus outbreak in the
country the Pope told pilgrims gathered
today that he's cancelling his week-long
spiritual retreat due to illness a
Vatican spokesperson said it's a slight
illness without going into further
details in France where the latest
figures released show hundred people
have the virus they've banned large
gatherings of over 5,000 people at the
Louvre one of the most iconic places in
Paris confused visitors stood outside
inside staff were reportedly talking
about new measures to protect workers
from catching the virus
but even though the Paris half marathon
was canceled these runners still figured
out a way to take part organizing in
smaller groups on social media to get
their miles in here the government
hasn't taken steps to ban public
gatherings or isolate whole communities
but with the biggest rise in cases so
far we may soon be entering a new phase
where such extraordinary measures are
considered well earlier I spoke to the
SNP politician Jean Freeman who is
Scotland's health secretary and I began
by asking her what emergency measures
could be put in place to prevent the
spread of the corona virus we have the
capacity to look at whether or not we
prevent large gatherings for example
sporting events concerts or whatever and
how are we to doing that for instance
because in France they've already you
know banned gatherings of people over
5,000 yes I understand that of course we
have to be proportionate and in Scotland
at this point we have no positive case
we are ready to take those steps if we
need to could one of those steps be
according to Matt's Hancock they're
considering this down here in England
I'm asking retired GPS to come back and
work and help out the general population
so that is part of resilience plans that
you would sensibly have in place on the
basis that if a large number of the
population were affected by this virus
and therefore we're either being cared
for in health care facilities or were
safe self isolating at home remembering
that it doesn't affect everyone to the
same degree then you will be losing
staff from our health service as well as
potentially from other services in those
instances you then look to see where
else can you secure that expertise and
training and you think you can persuade
them to do that what I do know I'm sure
NHS Scotland staff are no different from
across the country is that all of our
NHS staff will do everything that they
need to do in order to care for patients
that includes staff whether or not
they're retired does
really matter and their dedication their
vocational life is to care for other
human beings for their fellow citizens
and so I am confident that if that was
required then people would respond
positively to that I guess that I'm
trying to get out here is that if we
look around the world some some fairly
drastic measures are already in place in
Japan they have shut down all schools
until the end of April with several
hundred cases of the corona virus and
the relatively small number of deaths in
France they've banned gatherings of
people over you know the five thousand
people you know when do we reach that
stage here and how quickly can that come
before we take these same sort of
drastic measures in this country so it's
you know sounds almost impossible to
answer with absolute certainty that
question because it needs to be about as
I've said already what the scientific
and clinical advice is and that is in
part determined by the nature of the
transmission of the disease and also the
speed of its spread how successful we
are in managing to contain it so that is
it's constantly reviewed it will be
looked at again on Monday when Cobra
meets and I and others from the Scottish
government including our First Minister
will be part of that that will be
constantly reviewed in order to get the
best clinical advice and be able to make
those decisions gene Freeman thank you
for your time thank you