Millions of Britons are told to ask their bosses about working from home - Culture

Britons are being told to get ready to work from home after the biggest leap in coronavirus cases in a single day.

Another 48 were reported yesterday, making a total of 164 since the start of the outbreak.

The deadly contagion was last night thought to have claimed a second victim in Britain. Tests are being carried out to see whether the man, who was in his 80s and already in poor health, had the virus.

European visitors cautiously travel on the Victoria Line on Friday as coronavirus spreads across the United Kingdom

With the number of cases bound to escalate, health officials are advising millions of employees to ask bosses about working from home, should it become ‘necessary’. Public Health England is in discussions with major firms about expanding home working and ensuring employees have essentials such as laptops, internet and a quiet room.

Several have drawn up plans including BT, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG, Santander and Tesco’s head office in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.

As Boris Johnson acknowledged the potential for ‘substantial disruption’:

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson washes his hands during a visit to the Mologic Laboratory in the Bedford technology Park, north of London today

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured at a laboratory in Bedford as he announces a major Government investment in efforts to produce a vaccine

Two BA baggage handlers at Heathrow tested positive, raising fears they could have transmitted the virus to fliers;

The number of cases globally reached 100,731, with 3,412 deaths;

The FTSE 100 fell 3.6 per cent to reach its lowest level since the Brexit vote;

At least two British children tested positive for the virus, one in Liverpool, one in Devon;

Up to 142 Britons were trapped on a quarantined liner off San Francisco;

£46million of UK foreign aid cash will go on developing a vaccine and testing;

Patients will be phoned to check they are virus-free before GP consultations;

Italy recorded 49 new deaths linked to coronavirus, taking the total to 197.

Yesterday PHE, which is the Government’s health protection agency, issued stark advice to families on how to ready themselves for an epidemic.

The steps include preparing to self-isolate for two weeks, even if just one person in the household develops symptoms, and identifying neighbours who could bring food.

A woman wears a surgical mask while walking through Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London today

Today, March 6, saw the biggest one-day jump in the number of people confirmed to have the coronavirus – there were 47 new cases, bringing the UK’s new total from 116 to 164

Elderly patients or anyone with a long-term health condition should go through their diaries and consider cancelling ‘activities’ that could expose them to the virus.

This might include a concert or any event that involves public transport.

The guidance reveals that the UK could soon follow Italy, where much of the country is in lockdown to try to contain the outbreak.

Towns and cities that have particularly high numbers of cases may have to enforce ‘social distancing’ policies, including closing pubs, cinemas, gyms and theatres.

Commuters unable to work from home would be encouraged to stagger their journeys to ensure the rush hour is quieter, or be told to walk or cycle.

The guidance urges families to help vulnerable relatives and neighbours buy enough food for a week – if an epidemic takes hold.

This appears to contract the Government’s anti-stockpiling messages.

But one of the key points of the advice is that employees – and their bosses – ‘consider the option of home working’, and ensure they are fully set up and ready.

Facebook yesterday shut down its offices in central London until Monday after an employee tested positive for coronavirus.

The second patient in the UK feared to have died of the disease was identified through routine testing of intensive care patients at Milton Keynes Hospital.

Like the first victim, a woman in her 70s who died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, he is believed to have contracted the virus in the UK.

Mr Johnson warned there would be a ‘substantial period of disruption when we have to deal with this outbreak’.

He added: ‘How big that will be, how long that will be, is still an open question.’

Passengers wear surgical masks as they board a British Airways flight from Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport today

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who heads the World Health Organisation, warned global leaders yesterday: ‘This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.’

Dr Richard Hatchett, of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, told Channel 4 News: ‘This is the most frightening disease I’ve ever encountered in my career, and that includes ebola.

‘It’s frightening because of the combination of infectiousness and a lethality that appears to be many fold higher than flu.’

Drug made out of the BLOOD of recovered patients is developed in hunt for a vaccine

Scientists are getting closer to being able to treat the coronavirus using blood from patients who have recovered.

A drug-maker in Japan is already developing a drug using parts of the immune system taken from people who have caught the virus and recovered from it.

The treatment works, in theory, by putting disease-fighting proteins from recovered patients into people still battling the illness.

The sick patients’ bodies can then use these proteins – called antibodies – as if they were there own, instead of having to make them from scratch.

It has been used to tackle Ebola in the past but it could take more than one recovered patient to treat a single sick person, so will not be used for everyone.

Chinese hospitals have said they are using the therapy already but only on their own patients – there is no mass-produced drug or supply of it.

The Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda is working on developing the immune system therapy, Stat News reported.

It is called ‘plasma-derived therapy’ because it will be based on the blood plasma of people who have recovered from the coronavirus.

Plasma is the liquid which carries blood cells, nutrients and hormones through the blood vessels, and makes up around half of all blood.

It also carries antibodies, which are proteins the body makes to destroy bacteria or viruses when they cause an infection.

If somebody has never been exposed to a virus or bacteria before – as is the case for everyone who catches the coronavirus – they do not have any antibodies and they become ill during the time it takes their body to make them.

Injecting them with antibodies from someone who has already made them saves time and helps the patient to fight off the illness faster.

The World Health Organization said plasma-derived therapy was a ‘very important area’ and Dr Greg Poland, from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said it was ‘definitely worth trying’.