London - Britain is moving into the
second of four phases in its plan to tackle the spread of
coronavirus, England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said
on Thursday, as the UK recorded its first death of a patient and
confirmed cases rose.
Britain has so far registered 115 cases of the coronavirus
known as COVID-19, which started in China, but has held off from
introducing measures to restrict movement or cancel large
gatherings for fear of hurting the economy.
Whitty said in a statement later that the person who died
was an older patient with underlying health conditions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is optimistic that
Britain is well prepared to cope with the spread of the virus,
but early on Thursday regional airline Flybe became one of the
first big corporate casualties of the outbreak.
Health minister Matt Hancock said the coming weeks would be
tough. But with calm heads and clear determination, together we
can see it through".
The government set out its action plan earlier this week
based on four stages: containing the virus; delaying its
transmission; researching its origins and mitigating its impact.
Questioned by lawmakers earlier on Thursday, Whitty said
Britain had mainly moved into the second stage and was now
considering measures to try to delay the peak of an epidemic
which officials are anticipating in the coming weeks.
"The original plan ... was very much predicated on the idea
of 'if it could be controlled in China and contained everywhere
else, this virus might go away'. I think the chances of that
happening are now very slim. Slim to zero," Whitty said.
"As time goes by, we then may start to move into the more
socially determined actions ... We've moved from a situation
where we were mainly in contain ... to now we're basically
mainly delay."
Johnson was briefed after a meeting of Britain's Scientific
Advisory Group for Emergencies, his spokesman said.
"It is now highly likely that the virus is going to spread
in a significant way," the spokesman said. "Officials will
therefore accelerate work on preparations for the 'delay' phase
of the government's plan, focusing on steps we could take to
seek to delay the spread of the virus."
The government has said it could encourage home-working,
cancel large-scale gatherings and possibly close schools to slow
its spread and delay the peak of the outbreak until later in the
year, when the health service is under less pressure.
Whitty also said that with older people more vulnerable to
the virus, there may be measures announced to encourage them to
stay away from public places, such as the upper house of
parliament, the House of Lords.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the lower house of
parliament, told lawmakers there were no plans to close the
House of Commons.