Number of coronavirus in Britain rises by 34 to 85 in biggest spike so far

The number of coronavirus cases in Britain has jumped by 34 to 85.

The spike – the largest in a single day in the UK – came as England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned that an epidemic is now “highly likely”.

Before today’s surge, the UK total stood at 51 cases.

The Department of Health said that as of 9am on Wednesday 16,659 people had been tested in the UK, with 85 confirmed as having contracted the virus.

The jump today far exceeds the previous daily high on Sunday, when 12 more people in England and one in Scotland tested positive for the virus, taking the total to 36.

The vast majority so far are people who have returned from countries suffering outbreaks.

However, health chiefs now suspect the infection is being passed on here as well, beyond one case in Surrey and another in Essex which at least initially were not thought to be linked to foreign outbreaks.

It came as Boris Johnson announced statutory sick pay will be paid from the first day of absence, rather than the fourth, and told Jeremy Corbyn that he would “urgently” look at whether two million workers who are not entitled to the pay should get financial help.

The Prime Minister is also urgently considering special help for workers on zero-hours contracts who stand to lose income if they self-isolate.

Some 974,000 Britons are on zero hours and ministers are worried they would be tempted to work while carrying the infection.

Mr Johnson told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions that health chiefs would announce measures in coming days over how to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Parliament and other places with large gatherings.

Italy is considering closing all schools and universities across the country until mid-March, education minister Lucia Azzolina said.

Professor Whitty said it was now believed that person-to-person transmission was happening in the UK, though currently not on a large scale.

“We probably do in my view have some onward transmission here in the UK, I don’t think it is a large amount or we would have detected it,” Professor Whitty told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

As the number of cases continued to rise sharply around the world, he added: “It is much more likely than not that we are going to deal with a significant epidemic. How big it is I think is currently still pretty uncertain but that there will be an epidemic is now highly likely.”

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