The UK is moving into the next stage of its response to the coronavirus outbreak, England's chief medical officer has told MPs.
Professor Chris Whitty said the UK was "mainly" in the "delay" phase of the government's four-stage approach to
COVID-19.
Efforts had initially been made to try and contain the spread of the disease, but Prof Whitty - who is helping to coordinate the UK's response - said it was now "optimistic" to believe this could be a success.
"We have moved from a situation where we are mainly in contain, with some delay built in, to we are now mainly delay," he told the House of Commons health committee.
The UK is now hoping to push back the peak of a
coronavirus outbreak until the summer months, when there will be less winter pressures on the NHS and will allow more time to research the disease
However, the prime minister's spokesman later sought to clarify that the UK was still in the contain phase and, if a decision is made to move to the delay stage, then it would be announced publicly.
(Which is it boris)
After hearing from Prof Whitty, former Conservative leadership contender and now health committee chair Jeremy Hunt told Sky News: "The virus has now moved from contain to delay stage
"There are very active preparations for the final stage, the mitigate stage.
The four stages of UK's coronavirus response:
- contain the virus
- delay its transmission
- research its origins
- mitigate its impact
As time goes by, there would be measures that involved "changes to society", Prof Whitty said