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EU Raises Corona Infection Risk To High Whilst UK Advises Citizens To Wash Hands The EU health agency ECDC has upgraded the risk of the new Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the European Union from moderate to high. This was announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. Meanwhile, in the UK, Boris Johnson simply said the coronavirus outbreak is "likely to become more significant" across the UK in the coming days and weeks.” He then went on to minimise the health risks by saying “the best way we can support our NHS to stop the spread of the disease is to wash our hands, two times Happy Birthday, hot water and soap!” Whilst, the Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said "Wash your hands is the national anthem," outside the Cabinet Office!
However, media reports indicate that the strategy the Government is adopting is based on its existing contingency plans for responding to a flu pandemic, but has been adapted to take into account the differences with COVID-19. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also took part via a conference call. Speaking from Edinburgh after the talks, she said a "four nations action plan" would be published on Tuesday setting out the different phases to tackle "an infection of this nature". In the worst-case scenario, it is feared 80% of the population could contract the virus, with up to 500,000 deaths.
It upgraded the likelihood of global spread of the virus from "high" to "very high", the highest possible level. But the fight against the worldwide spread of lung disease is not yet lost, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. There is no evidence that the virus is freely present in the population, he said. Other countries have started to enact their own draconian containment measures, including banning arrivals from virus-hit nations, locking down towns, urging citizens to stay home and suspending major events such as football matches and trade fairs. According to the EU Commission, a total of around 2100 cases have been detected in 18 EU countries so far. Thirty-eight people in the EU have died from the new disease COVID-19, said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. The situation is changing very quickly.
The death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic surpassed 3,000 on Monday as more people died in China, Iran and the US and Europe raised its state of alert. With fears of a pandemic on the rise, the World Health Organization urged all countries to stock up on critical care ventilators to treat patients with severe symptoms. The virus has raised fears for the world economy, with the OECD lowering its global growth forecast by half a point to 2.4 percent, the worst performance since the 2008 crisis. Source: Sky News / DeutscheWelle
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Claiming the UK is prepared, Johnson offered no further details of any plans the UK to deal with an increase in the rate of the spread of the disease, as the current number of infections in the UK is now at 46. 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has changed its risk assessment. 
In Brussels, EU president Ursula von der Leyen said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) had increased its risk assessment for Europeans after Italy's outbreak doubled in 48 hours.