Boris Johnson insists fighting coronavirus is his top priority

Boris Johnson insists fighting coronavirus is his top priority and tells Brits to ‘wash their hands with soap’ after he was slammed for being slow to react to escalating crisis and taking three days to hold an emergency Cobra meeting

Boris Johnson today broke his silence on the spiralling coronavirus crisis and moved to reassure the public that the NHS is ready to deal with a British outbreak.

The Prime Minister said he had been in meetings with the chief medical officer and had made preventing the spread of infection the government’s ‘top priority’.

He spoke directly to Britons when he advised everyone to ‘wash our hands for twenty seconds or more with hot water and soap’.

Mr Johnson has come under fire in recent days for bunkering down at his countryside residence in Kent rather than returning to Number 10 to lead the response against both the flooding and coronavirus.

This outrage reached a crescendo today when it emerged he has scheduled a COBRA meeting for Monday, rather than calling a round-table of the government’s top officials immediately.

The Prime Minister said he had been in meetings with the chief medical officer and had made preventing the spread of infection the government’s ‘top priority’

But he swatted away accusations of inaction when quizzed in a TV interview this evening.

He insisted ‘we’ve just had a meeting of all government ministers’ and there had been a ‘regular series of COBRA meetings to prepare for this eventuality’.

The PM was also asked if he regretted not evacuating earlier the Britons trapped aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokahama, where today a UK citizen died.

Mr Johnson said: ‘We regret the loss of life of the individual concerned… But we believe it’s best st not to move too many people around unless absolutely sure there’s not going to be a spread or contagion to this country – that’s the prinicple we’re adopting.’

He spoke directly to Britons when he advised everyone to 'wash our hands for twenty seconds or more with hot water and soap'

He spoke directly to Britons when he advised everyone to ‘wash our hands for twenty seconds or more with hot water and soap’

Earlier today, the PM’s political rivals lined up to blast him for his handling of the health crisis.

Lib Dem acting leader Ed Davey said: ‘People across the country are anxious and concerned about Coronavirus: they want to see leadership. 

‘The Liberal Democrats called on Boris Johnson to chair a COBRA meeting weeks ago to ensure everything was being done to prepare for a potential Coronavirus outbreak. 

‘With the NHS already so stretched, it’s gobsmacking that the Prime Minister has delayed chairing COBRA for so long. 

‘Just like his failure to visit communities hit by flooding, on Coronavirus Johnson seems like he’d rather bury his head in the sand than hear for himself what the experts are saying and what his Ministers are doing.’

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