UK enter8k8 promotion centers 'delay' phase of its COVID-19 response

The United Kingdom government has announced it has moved beyond the "containment" to the "delay" phase of its response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, meaning new measures will be taken to slow the spread of the disease.

At a news conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the virus has caused the "worst public health crisis for a generation".

"Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time," he said, adding that the disease is not comparable to seasonal flu because of the lack of immunity in the general population.

The delay phase is likely to involve social distancing measures, including the cancellation of large events, the closure of schools, and the encouragement of businesses to allow employees to work from home.

Johnson did not detail precisely which actions will be taken first.

"We are considering banning major public events," he said. "We will do the right thing at the right time."

The government's chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said that while the UK has confirmed 590 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the actual number of cases is likely to be between 5,000 and 10,000.

"That's still a relatively small number," Vallance said. "What you want to do is to protect people during the most infectious period. The actions that we need to take is to do two things. It is to delay the peak and to push the peak down."

Earlier on Thursday, Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said gatherings of more than 500 people in Scotland would be canceled starting next week. She said the measure was intended to relieve pressure on the emergency services, rather than to prevent the spread of the disease.

"We know that certain events have an impact on our policing and frontline health services," Sturgeon said. "Our health services, in particular, will be under acute pressure in the weeks and months to come. I think it is incumbent on the government to do what we can to remove unnecessary burdens on our public services."