Cobra meeting: UK coronavirus battle plan switching to delay phase, claims Nicola Sturgeon

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Jacob Jarvis13 March 2020

The UK has escalated its coronavirus response from contain to delay, according to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

She said the decision had been made after today's Cobra meeting.

Ms Sturgeon, speaking in Edinburgh, said: “The decision has been taken that we have now moved from a contain phase into the delay phase where the objective is to seek to slow down the spread of the virus, to reduce the numbers who will be infected at the peak, the number infected at any one time.”​

Representatives of the Scottish Government attended as did Cabinet members including Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Home Secretary Priti Patel joined the discussions, as did Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson later confirmed the action.

Earlier it was confirmed two coronavirus patients in London died, taking the number of people in the UK to die after contracting Covid-19 to 10.

The number of cases in the UK since the beginning of the outbreak also rose to 590. More than 27,000 people have been tested across the UK.

The update comes after chief medical officers for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland wrote to doctors warning that coronavirus will put healthcare under “extreme pressure” which will “inevitably be exacerbated by staff shortage due to sickness or caring responsibilities”.

Furthering discussing the UK government response, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg earlier indicated that emergency legislation to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak could be brought in in the week starting March 23.

This is subject to talks between Labour and the Tories.

He said: “It is something where the whole nation is coming together as one and I’m grateful for the support so far being received from the official Opposition.

“The Government will do everything it can to ensure that co-operation continues to be given willingly and is why I was not more specific about the specific second readings we will be having because that will obviously be dependent on these talks.”

Earlier it was announced schools and childcare facilities in Ireland will close from 6pm today - not reopen until March 29 to help contain the spread of Covid-19, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said.

Teaching will be done online or remotely while state-run “cultural institutions” will also close.

Indoor gatherings of more than 100 people as well as outdoor meetings of more than 500 will be cancelled there.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has topped 118,000 since the outbreak began. The majority have been in mainland China.

The totals are not representative of how many cases there are at present. They do not account for those who have recovered.

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