London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson to hold Cobra meeting as UK death toll hits three

Prime minister to consider bringing in tougher measures to delay spread of outbreak
Boris Johnson will decide whether to bring in tougher measures to delay the spread of coronavirus on Monday, after the number of British cases increased by a third to 278 and the number of deaths in the UK rose to three.

The prime minister is to chair his first emergency Cobra meeting on the virus since last Monday, which will look at possible measures if the UK formally moves from trying to contain the outbreak to delaying its impact.

The government’s coronavirus plan, published last week, included suggestions such as social distancing and increased home working at the milder end of the spectrum, to cancelling mass-attendance events and cutting back on essential police and fire services at the more extreme end.

The UK saw its biggest one-day increase in coronavirus cases on Sunday, with 69 new cases confirmed. A man in his 60s, who had underlying health problems, became the third patient to die after testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK. The man, who died at North Manchester general hospital, had recently returned from Italy, NHS England said.

As the government prepared emergency legislation to allow some court proceedings to be heard by phone or video, GPs warned that hospitals would have to cut back on work not related to coronavirus in order to tackle the outbreak.

Ahead of the Cobra meeting, Johnson insisted the UK was “well-prepared and will continue to make decisions to protect the public based on the latest scientific advice”. “Tackling coronavirus will require a national and international effort. I am confident the British people are ready to play their part in that,” he said. “The most valuable thing people can do is wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.”

The government is considering plans to let more people volunteer in the NHS, and the health service said it had already trained about 500 additional initial call responders to help deal with increased demand for the 111 service.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the government would do “everything in its power” to delay and mitigate the coronavirus threat as he set out plans contained in emergency legislation to deal with the impact of the virus.

The bill, which is likely to go through parliament by the end of the month, is expected to include measures to allow some court proceedings to be conducted via telephone or video.

The news came as 32 people who had been aboard a cruise ship in Japan were released from quarantine in Wirral, and two people who had recently returned to Wales from Italy tested positive for the illness.

The Foreign Office said it was “working intensively” with US authorities to arrange a flight for British nationals on the coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship, which is due to arrive in Oakland, California, on Monday.

A healthcare worker at University Hospital Southampton NHS foundation trust has tested positive for coronavirus. The surgical high-dependency unit, where the person worked a single nightshift on Friday, has been temporarily closed to new admissions as a result.

Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, warned that the Covid-19 outbreak was a “significant crisis” for the health service but said that estimates that 100,000 could die were a “worst-case scenario”.

“If we are going to try to continue doing what we are doing at the health service and tackle coronavirus, it will require a significant amount of resources,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “I expect we will cut down in terms of the other work we do.”

Marshall welcomed plans to call upon recently retired doctors to expand the workforce. He said: “I think it is a good idea as long as we do it carefully … and people are estimating that 20% of the workforce might be out of action at any one time when the crisis reaches its peak – people are talking about some time in late April for that. If that happens, then we do need to expand the workforce in whatever way we can.”

World Health Organization representative Dr Margaret Harris warned that government must ensure that supporting health workers is their “number one priority”. She said: “They need backup, they need other people to come and do the shifts. If they’re working massively, they are tremendously at risk.”

Asked if army field hospitals could play a role in the response to the coronavirus outbreak, Harris said: “Certainly the army has great experience of putting up field hospitals. I’ve worked on Ebola and I’ve seen what the British army can do. It’s quite incredible.

“So this is the sort of planning you should be thinking about. Can you set up a field hospital? Where do you set it up? What equipment have you got and what staff have you got and how can you protect everybody working in those conditions?”

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has promised to give the NHS “whatever it needs” to tackle the coronavirus crisis, as he looks at loosening the fiscal rules to allow for more borrowing and spending ahead of this week’s budget.

The Scottish first minister and SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, told Ridge it was “pretty much inevitable that we will need additional resources” in the NHS to cope with coronavirus. A total of 18 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland.

Government figures released on Sunday morning revealed 64 new coronavirus cases in the UK, with more than 23,513 people tested as of 9am. A further five cases were reported as Sunday wore on. Three people had died as of Sunday night.

Prof Tom Solomon at the Walton Centre NHS foundation trust said that this increase was “not really unexpected” because “it is likely that the number of cases in this country is going to double every few days”.

On Sunday, NHS England announced that 32 people have been given an all-clear for coronavirus after being held in isolation in Wirral after returning from the Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan. The group – made up of 30 Britons and two Irish people – had been held in quarantine since last month after the ship became a breeding ground for the virus.

Seven people, including one UK citizen, who had been aboard the ship have died so far. Two further patients in Wales also tested positive for coronavirus after returning from northern Italy.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×