The number of coronavirus cases in the UK has risen to 273 with the biggest jump in a day on Sunday, health authorities said.
The Department of Health said more than 23,000 people were tested so far with a student at Oxford University among the 67 new cases.
TWO DIED FROM THE VIRUS
Public health hotline traffic shot up by more than a third with 120,000 additional calls in the first week of March, added the department.
Two people have died of coronavirus in the UK, according to official figures.
The British government is expected to announce an emergency action plan next week in the face of the growing number of diagnoses and rising mortality rate.
It is expected to allow officials to take further, more radical, action against the spread of the strain in the country. “I can say absolutely categorically the NHS will get whatever resources it needs to get us through this and to respond to the health crisis,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak told a BBC program on Sunday.
Meanwhile, people have continued stockpiling goods, prompting big supermarkets including Tesco group to ration essential food and household items.