UK could be in coronavirus lockdown for 18 MONTHS

Britain's coronavirus shutdown could last for 18 months or more while scientists scramble to find a vaccine capable of stopping the disease, scientists warn.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday announced that people should stop socialising, work from home, avoid travelling and that whole households should stay in isolation if one person becomes ill.

And a report by leading scientists who are advising the Government said people may need to keep up the drastic lifestyle change for 18 months or more.

The Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team predicted that 260,000 people could have died if the Government hadn't changed tack yesterday and tightened its rules.

Now it could limit them to fewer than 20,000 by keeping people away from each other and slowing down the spread of the virus.
 

British officials had only realised the danger 'in the last few days', the report said, after watching the situation in Italy spiral out of control and overwhelm hospitals – around 2,200 people have now died there and there are 28,000 confirmed infections.

This inspired a dramatic ramp-up of UK policy and Mr Johnson announced a move to war-footing to try and stop the outbreak.

The switch-up was an admission that officials' original plans to control and slow an outbreak – to 'flatten the curve' – had been too ambitious. 





MailOnline