In the weeks and months ahead, we received a detailed briefing from the chief medical officer on the chief scientific adviser.

Again, I repeat my gratitude toe both Chris and Patrick.

They have not bean four deaths from credit bars in the U.

K.

And our deepest sympathies are obviously with their friends on dhe.

Families are action plan, as you know, sets out four phases of our approach.

Attacking the virus contain delay research on dhe mitigate.

We remain in the contain phase of the outbreak. 00:00:55.040 --> 00:01:9.450 But watching what is happening around the world are scientists think containment is extremely unlikely to work on its own, and that is why we're making extensive preparations for a move to the delay phase.

We're preparing various actions to slow the spread of this disease in order to reduce the strain it places on the N hs.

The more we can delay the peak of the spread to the summer, the better the N H s will be able to manage.

Patrick and Chris will give you some more detailed information on the latest advice we're giving the public today and how we expect that advice to change as the outbreak develops.

As things stand, I'm afraid it bears repeating that the best thing we can all do is wash our hands for 20 seconds with soap on water.

We'll also take questions because I know there are lots of things that the public want to hear from our advisers about. 00:01:58.360 --> 00:02:3.180 But before that, I want to stress the following things First. 00:02:3.420 --> 00:02:11.450 We're doing everything we can to combat this outbreak based on the very latest scientific on medical advice.

Second, we have a truly brilliant and hs west off.

Have responded with a ll the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service so revered across the world.

And they will continue to have this government's full support my support in tackling this virus on the front line.

Third, we will set out further steps in the days and weeks ahead to help people protect themselves, their family and, in particular, the elderly on Dhe vulnerable. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:03:1.770 Finally, while it's absolutely critical, it's absolutely critical in managing the spread of this bars that we take the right decisions at the right time based on the latest and best evidence. 00:03:1.920 --> 00:03:13.340 So we mustn't do things which have no or limited medical benefit, nor things which could turn out actually to be counterproductive.

There is no hiding from the fact that the Corona virus outbreak will present significant challenges for the UK justice it does in other countries.

But if we continue to look out for one another to pull together in a united and national effort, I have no doubt that we can Ah, NDE will rise to that challenge and I'm not going to ask Patrick and then Chris to give their own perspective on where we are.

Patrick, thank you very much. 00:03:52.470 --> 00:04:2.580 Numbers are increasing and they're increasing across Europe and in the UK on that increase in numbers is consistent with the fact that there is transmission of this within the community. 00:04:2.910 --> 00:04:9.700 The number that's basically port naturally is the number of people in intensive care which shows that there are others out they've had it on. 00:04:9.700 --> 00:04:16.640 That's coming to seriously ill people in some cases who may have infected others before they got to intensive care.

So we know that there is a community transition on transmission in terms of the things that could be done to try and suppress the number of people that get this at the peak, push the peek into the summer and also to protect those that the most vulnerable in society.

We need to understand where we are in the epidemic and make sure that we take the actions that need to be taken at the right time.

And those possible actions are laid out in the plan they've all been modeled on.

There are others that were looked at that are less effective than the ones that are in the plan as well.

They will be modeled on we get together and review those numbers through sage, looking at the numbers on a daily basis with groups off mathematical modelers, people who understand disease epidemics, clinicians, virologists, other types of scientists with expertise across a range of disciplines.

Those different options then can be modelled to give a certain percentage effect on both the peak on the number of potential deaths on the number of potentially very ill people.

It's important that no single intervention on its own is enough to make the difference.

You have to do things in combination and you have to do them at the right time.

Do it too early.

You just end up with The measure's not having any effect.

So, for example, if you asked everybody with a mild sniffle at the moment to go into isolation, you get a lot of people who haven't got growing the virus. 00:05:50.520 --> 00:06:1.380 They got some other circulating illness in due course that will change so that we need to get the measure of the right time so they could be implemented properly and people can actually adhere to them. 00:06:1.720 --> 00:06:4.490 And it's sensible to make the difference that we're looking for.