Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson government on Tuesday unveiled a huge package of support for businesses to help them survive the introduction of tough new social measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
PM Johnson said that the Britain needed to act “like any wartime government”, as finance minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a 330 billion pound ($400 billion, 363 billion euros) package of loans for virus-hit business.
Sunak said the measures were equivalent to 15 percent of GDP and were available to “any business that needs access to cash”, promising to “go further” if necessary.
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Cases of the coronavirus across the UK have now risen to 1,543, with 55 deaths; but there was likely to be many more as tests are being carried out on patients in the hospital.
Addressing the nation on Monday, Johnson advised Britons to avoid pubs and clubs in a bid to control the spread of the virus.
Ferguson said the government had “no other option” but to implement new measures because modelling from new Italian data indicated 81 percent of Britons and Americans would be infected.
Some 510,000 would die in the UK and 2.2 million in the US, peaking after three months, he warned.
Mitigation policies would only halve that number and healthcare systems would still be overloaded.
As he urged Britons to avoid unnecessary social contact and to start home working, Johnson last accepted that the situation was “difficult”, the Daily Mail reported.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,894 until midnight, including 8,056 patients who were still being treated, 69,601 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,237 people who lost their lives.
The commission said that 119 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.
The country has closed all public and private educational institutions, marriage halls, cultural centres, cinemas, and cancelled all sports activities and official events and also blocked its western border crossings with Iran and Afghanistan.
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