12 new British cases emerged today, having arrived here from Italy, Germany, Singapore, Japan and Iran.

There are now 51 cases in the U.

K A total off 13,911 people have been tested.

12 people have been discharged from hospital.

No one in the U.

K has delayed from the virus.

In a moment we'll hear from the health secretary, Matt Hancock, but first, here's our health correspondent Victoria McDonald.

They have a plan or 27 pages off it, outlining what they are doing for Corona virus and what they will do should it become an epidemic.

I fully understand public concern your concern about the global spread of the virus, and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of UK cases.

That's why keeping the country safe is the government's overriding priority.

Flanked by the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser, the prime minister was seeking to reassure the UK public that all was well and they're carefully washed hands.

There's been a bit of confusing advice about things like shaking hands, and I'm intrigued to know whether you've developed a personal policy yourself.

So next time there's a visiting dignitary and you're standing on the doorsteps of darling streets, Are you going to shake their hands?

And if not, how you gonna verte an international incident?

Well, I will veto, I can tell you that I I I'm shaking hands contains lives that I was in the hospital the other night where I think the review.

There were actually a few credit bars patients, and I shook hands with everybody.

Mr.

Johnson had visited the Royal Free Hospital in north London on Sunday, where they are treating some covered 19 patients.

Downing Street later clarified that he hadn't actually shaken their hands.

Tonight, though, it has emerged that the N HS has now declared a major or level for incident.

In a letter sent from N HS, England hospitals have been asked to find extra areas that can be modified to treat those who need infectious disease care.

That's in addition to the specialist units and that they should identify how to increase their critical care and high dependency capacity.

Today, the numbers infected here increased again to now 51.

How far it will spread, of course, is not known.

Experts say a worst case scenario could be 80% with 1% dying, but that the majority of people will have mild or no symptoms.

There are four parts to this Corona virus plan there's contain.

That's where we are now tracing all cases.

Then there is a delay trying to push the peek out of the winter season so the N H s can cope better research that is already happening looking for vaccines and treatments.

And then there is mitigate.

That's when the epidemic has taken hold, and they have to look at other measures that could include school closures or calling in the Army.

Once it gets to the mitigation phase.

The plan says that some non urgent care may be delayed to prioritize and triage service delivery staff.

Roster ring changes may be necessary, including calling levers and retirees back to duty, and that may need new laws.

While in Scotland, the plan states health boards can apply for court orders for quarantine and medical examination off those suspected to have Corona virus.

At worst, the plan says, one and five employees could be absent from work, and that is a scenario doctors surgeries are preparing for star falling ill or having to take time off if schools do close.

In that case, this G P practice will use Skype calls for consultation.

That's fine.

Just let me brief you 24 They also have an isolation room.

Should a patient come in, ignoring the advice to ring 111?

If I work, force diminishes, We will reshape on do our best to to provide service will need to prioritize and stream and keep the essentials going.

Sure, people get the medications they need.

People are acutely unwell, are seen.

But some of the routine stuff may have to take going to the back burner for a bit.

But journal practice in the UK incredibly well set up to manage and cope with this sort of epidemic if it arrives.

Much of today's plan is about protecting the most vulnerable in society, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, and also being prepared for what may well becoming our way.

Victor Room Donald reporting there.

Well, let's go over now to our political editor, Gary Given in Westminster.

Gary.

Interestingly, some voices in Whitehall today, saying about the government's full appearance on the stage today.

About time, too, I'm told by some have been in the room with Boris Johnson in earlier meetings that he'd he'd had a real worry and anxiety that going public with announcements like this would create more chaos than the virus itself.

Potentially, well, the government has definitely moved into a different mode now, and you're gonna see more of it very soon, I think, with MME.

Or public health information advertisements online activity on all the rest of it.

It's worth just taking on board the scale of what the government is doing here.

It's hard to think of peacetime president for the sort of powers there they're talking about is Victoria was saying there the idea of the army coming in to replace the police, the scale of immortality here at the worst end of the scenario, and we are talking about hundreds of thousands of deaths that might not otherwise have happened very much the worst end of the scenario on the government feel that there could be more data coming in from China, for instance, that will prove that wrong.

But it means that in Whitehall at the moment they are sitting there working out how you deal with that many deaths, even some committee, I was told, Looking at, How do you prioritize people who want their need, their dead to be buried quicker than others?

All sorts of other work going on in there?

We know.

The health secretary mentioned that sick pay might have to be looked at for people on zero contracts.

I'm told there was one meeting where they talked about postponing the local elections in May, Boris Johnson said.

For the moment, it's business as usual, but we could soon all be living in the extraordinary scenarios that have been pushed around tables inside Whitehall until now.

Thanks Gary.

Well in the United States, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half a percentage point in a bid to shore up the economy and financial markets.

A middle the Corona virus panic, but the surprise move has got a mixed review from investors.

Shares in the US initially rose, but then fell back, dropping 500 points at one stage.

Our business and global trade correspondent Paul McNamara is here.

Paul, What's the thinking?

Behind this move will essentially stop the bleeding after more than a week off, market's tanking and trillions being wiped off global markets on lots of people sitting around at home thinking, Am I worth less?

But now the bigwigs at the U.

S.

Central Bank of said, You know what?

It's not just abstract numbers now in the stock market that going down, we're starting to see an impact in the real economy.

So in travel in tourism and it's sections of manufacturing that rely on parts coming in from China and the truth is, they don't really know where this will end because when they made the announcement, they spoke off evolving risks from the virus.

They pull that together, they decided to do something.

And has it worked?

I mean, has it worked?

Well, well, in short, no, for five minutes it did, and then markets carried on tanking.

Some investors seem to have thought, Wait a minute.

This movie is so swift.

The cut is so big.

What the hell did the Federal Reserve notes that we don't instead of injected it confidence.

So you made some people more nervous, some saying generally it's not a cut in interest rates that's needed a cutting the cost of borrowing, which can take a bit of time to seep through to the economy.

What they think is needed is a cutting taxes.

So people at home have more money in their pocket right away.

They could start spending right away.

It will boost the economy immediately.

What is happening here in the UK?

Well, some investors think the Bank of England might follow suit today.

Mark.

I know the governor.

Bank of England.

We're talking two MPs.

He spoke up.

He said that carnivorous could deliver a large economic shot.

Of course, interest rates already real.

Oh, hear that 00.75% is not a lot of wiggle room you've seen in the U.

S.

Has already had that much in effect, so attention could start swinging to the government.

The new chancellor was she soon as if he's gonna do anything, we'll see what it will be next Wednesday when it gives his first budget in not the best of circumstances.

Paul McNamara.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

While they're there, I spoke to the health secretary, Matt Hancock at the Department of Health.

And it's coming up now, I hope.

State, How worried are you?

You losing sleep?

It is my job to worry about these things.

Ondas Health secretary.

When there's a major outbreak like this, then obviously I I worry about it and take the action that's necessary to protect the public.

And I understand why people, why members of the public of worried about it?

Of course, it's only natural.

S o.

The plan that we've published today is being, being being done to be as transparent as possible about the actions that we might have to take these actions we might tap state.

Not that we definitely will, because if we do have to do some of these things, which are pretty unusual for a government to have to do, we want people to know that it's part of a plan that it's led by the science incredibly important that it's led by the science.

Today.

We are not asking people to do Maur than wash your hands.

If you have a sneeze or cough catch it on dhe.

Follow the public advice Public health advice of you if you travel.

So if it's led by signs will be the scientists.

You decide when to go to the next level.

I mean, how will that decision be taken if you decide to start closing schools or whatever it might be?

Well, those decisions will be taken by their Cobra meetings that there's now a regular drumbeat of Cobra meetings on dhe.

The scientists are at the table, and they'll make their advice clear and very straightforward.

But is that based on thresholds of cases, you know, is it?

Once we get to 1000 cases, then we need to do something more or something else.

It's based on a judgment taking that into account, also taking into account the steepness of the curve, how rapidly the expansion of this virus is going and what other countries air doing Judgment will be made by the four semos of the UK Andi.

That will be a recommendation to Thio Cobra.

But it's essentially that science led decision.

Yes, if it does take off on dhe grips the population, the big crisis immediately is gonna be a shortage of beds and hospitals.

What's going to happen when intensive care units are full in hospital wards are full?

Well, the good news about this virus is that the majority of people about four in five, we think get mild symptoms.

So a bad cough basically.

But of course, there's people who get much more serious symptoms and the task of the N HS, especially in that peak phase.

Because this is a new virus.

None of us have the natural antibodies, and so therefore, if it becomes widespread, it will.

It's a lot of people at once.

Of course, that will be a a big challenge for the N HS, and things in that situation may have to be done differently.

For example, Maur treatment at home than we would have in normal circumstances.

But I was just with a doctor who was saying that the big worry on his mind is intensive care.

You know that intensive care is often quite close to capacity anyway.

If it's suddenly filled with Corona virus patients, doctors are gonna have to start making some awful decisions about who gets treatment and who doesn't.

Well, doctors do have to make that sort of decision A Love the terrace, and it'll be more acute.

Well, naturally, when there's more pressure on the neck dress, those air decisions, operational decisions that senior doctors have toe I always have to make, especially at times of pressure.

But thank goodness we've got the N hs because that means that everybody knows that the the system society as a whole, if you like, will be doing everything we can to help people according to clinical need, not according to any other consideration.

Obviously, you're trying to manage public fear, and you don't want panic to spread on.

The numbers of people who would be likely to die in a mass infection are still relatively small, even want 1 to 2%.

But according to age groups, it really changes, doesn't it?

With the older people you're talking about, possibly one in seven people over 80 dying.

I mean, that's a very shocking statistic for the older people in very frightening.

Well, I've course understand why people are worried.

This is why we're doing everything we can to contain this disease.

There are some things that are highly effective in terms of reducing the spread of the virus but not very costly in terms of the disruption, like washing your hands.

So we should be doing those.

There are other things where we can make a targeted approach that supports, for instance, elderly people, people with underlying health conditions.

We're not asking people do this now, But should we need to thinking about self isolation for people not because they have the disease, but in order to protect them from getting so overrated?

Self isolate.

Anyway, once this takes off, that is not what we're saying now because the timing issues you get.

But you can see how that might be the sort of thing that would have a big positive impact.

Likewise, we did a lot of work on making sure that people who are in care homes who are often vulnerable Andi elderly, the care homes and the social care system gets to support it needs.

There are some pretty grim practical implications of this, though, on the sounds of the number of deaths.

I mean, you know, there have been reports of high park being turned into a amore, is that correct?

Well, that isn't something that I've seen.

It's we're working with local councils local resilience forums as they're called to make sure that all of these eventualities looked into on that we're prepared.