Up to 10,000 people may already have coronavirus in Britain and many families should expect to lose loved ones before their time, Boris Johnson warned on Thursday as he set out measures less stringent than those taken by other countries.
Schools are to remain open and large gatherings such as sports events and concerts will go ahead, amid concerns that moving too soon with stricter measures could bring public fatigue, though the prime minister said both measures remained under consideration.
The moves put England and Wales at odds with neighbouring countries. Scotland moved to ban gatherings of more than 500 people from next week, while the Republic of Ireland and France became the latest countries to announce the closure of all schools.
Ministers and health chiefs are bracing themselves for an imminent sharp rise in infections and deaths. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said between 5,000 and 10,000 people in the UK are thought to have the virus now, as it spreads undiagnosed.
Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the UK’s response “has clearly not been sufficient”. He and other experts called for much more extensive testing and tracing of the contacts of those diagnosed with Covid-19.
Signs that financial markets were starting to freeze up in response to growing evidence of economic distress caused by the pandemic created echoes on Thursday of the near-collapse of the banking system in 2008 and prompted an emergency cash injection from America’s central bank.
But the action by the New York Fed was not enough to make good the damage caused by Donald Trump, and botched attempts by the European Central Bank to reassure investors proved counter-productive.
Navy Vet
Article URL : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/coronavirus-as-many-as-10000-in-britain-may-already-have-it-says-pm