Good morning and thank you for coming along, and I am very glad to
be joined this morning by the government’s Chief Medical Officer
and Chief Scientific Advisor.
Today we have published the Coronavirus Action Plan setting out
how all four parts of the UK will take all necessary and
reasonable steps to tackle this outbreak.
The plan has four strands. Containing the virus, delaying its
spread, researching its origins and cure, and finally mitigating
the impact should the virus become more widespread. That is,
contain, delay, research, mitigate.
And let me be absolutely clear that for the overwhelming majority
of people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease
from which they will speedily and fully recover as we’ve already
seen.
But I fully understand public concern, your concern, about the
global spread of this virus. And it is highly likely that we will
see a growing number of UK cases.
And that’s why keeping the country safe is the government’s
overriding priority. And our plan means we’re committed to doing
everything possible based on the advice of our world leading
scientific experts to prepare for all eventualities.
Let’s not forget – we already have a fantastic NHS, fantastic
testing systems and fantastic surveillance of the spread of
disease.
We will make sure the NHS gets all the support it needs to
continue their brilliant response to the virus so far.
The plan does not set out what the government will do, it sets
out the steps we could take at the right time along the basis of
the scientific advice.
Our country remains extremely well prepared, as it has been since
the outbreak began in Wuhan several months ago.
Finally, crucially, we must not forget what we can all do to
fight this virus, which is to wash our hands, you knew I was
going to say this, but wash our hands with soap and water. And
forgive me for repeating this but there will be people who will
be tuning into this for the first time: wash your hands with soap
and hot water for the length of time it takes to sing Happy
Birthday twice.
It’s simple advice but it’s the single most important thing we
can do, as I think our experts would attest.
But at this stage, and with the exception of all of the points I
have just mentioned, I want to stress that for the vast majority
of the people of this country, we should be going about our
business as usual.
