UK holds emergency meeting as coronavirus hits health worker

Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee later, after the number of UK coronavirus cases jumped to 36.

Senior ministers and health advisers will be told that the virus will present a “significant challenge” but the NHS is well-prepared.

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Boris Johnson will tell the meeting the government will “stop at nothing” to fight the virus.

The official government plan on how to tackle the spread of the virus will be finalised and signed off at the talks.

More UK cases are expected to be announced, after 13 new patients were diagnosed on Sunday.

The latest cases included 12 more in England and the first patient in Scotland, meaning the virus has now reached all four parts of the UK.

Three of the new cases in England were linked to a man from Surrey, who was the first patient to not have been abroad recently and was instead infected within the UK.

Meanwhile, more British holidaymakers stuck in a quarantined hotel in Tenerife are preparing to return home once they test negative for the virus.