RUSHES: Coronavirus: Boris Johnson, Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance press conference and cutaways

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson, Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance press conference and cutaways; ENGLAND: London: Westminster: Downing Street: INT Boris Johnson MP (Prime Minister), Professor Chris Whitty (Chief Medical Officer) and Professor Patrick Vallance (Chief Scientific Adviser) into room for press conference / Boris Johnson MP (Prime Minister) speech SOT.- Good afternoon everybody and thank you very much for coming.I’ve just chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee including ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and it’s clear that coronavirus, COVID-19, continues and will continue to spread across the world and our country over the next few months. We’ve done what can be done to contain this disease and this has bought us valuable time. But it is now a global pandemic.- And the number of cases will rise sharply and indeed the true number of cases is higher - perhaps much higher - than the number of cases we have so far confirmed with tests. I’ve got to be clear, we’ve all got to be clear, that this is the worst public health crisis for a generation. Some people compare it to seasonal flu. Alas, that is not right. Owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous. And it’s going to spread further and I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time. And the Chief Scientific Adviser will set out the best information we have on that in a moment.- But as we’ve said over the last few weeks, we have a clear plan that we are now working through. And we are now moving to the next phase in that plan. Because this is now not just to attempt to contain the disease as far as possible, but to delay its spread and thereby minimise the suffering. If we delay the peak even by a few weeks, then our NHS will be in a stronger state as the weather improves and fewer people suffer from normal respiratory diseases, more beds are available and we’ll hav...