Coronavirus: Over-70s to be told to isolate for up to four months
The government is preparing to tell over-70s to isolate for up to four months as it gets on war footing to cope with the spread of coronavirus.
Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed reports this morning that people over the age of 70 would be told to quarantine themselves even if they do not show any Covid-19 symptoms in order to protect those most susceptible to the virus.
Hancock told Sky News that the government does not “want to do that too soon because clearly it is not an easy thing to do”, but that it will likely be put in place within the next few weeks.
Mass gatherings are also expected to be banned this week and people told to work from home where possible.
It comes as Boris Johnson has asked manufacturers, included Rolls Royce and JCB, to help produce ventilators to help combat the virus.
John Neill, the chairman of Unipart, told the Sunday Telegraph that the company was already working at speed to help produce the machines and that it was a “critical initiative”.
Hancock said the health service has an estimated 5,000 ventilators, but that the country would need “many times more than that”.
He said the NHS would need as many as they could get their hands on and that the government would pay for all of the new ventilators manufactured.
NHS bosses have also been given the green light by the government to buy up private hospital beds and the Health Department is considering using hotel rooms to treat coronavirus patients.
The UK death toll from Covid-19 more than doubled yesterday to 21, as the amount of confirmed cases exceeded 1100.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Hancock compared the coronavirus outbreak to World War II.
He said: “Our generation has never been tested like this. Our grandparents were, during the Second World War, when our cities were bombed during the Blitz. Despite the pounding every night, the rationing, the loss of life, they pulled together in one gigantic national effort.
“Today our generation is facing its own test, fighting a very real and new disease. We must fight the disease to protect life. Everyone will be asked to make sacrifices, to protect themselves and others, especially those most vulnerable to this disease.”