Military To Provide Lifeline For 1.5m

UK death toll up 48 with patient aged 18 youngest to die

- Martyn Brown

Military bosses were last night organising a massive operation to deliver food and medicine to the doorsteps of 1.5 million people judged most vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak.

Boris Johnson said the drastic measure was needed to help “shield” those most at risk, adding that they should now stay at home for 12 weeks.

The dramatic intervention came as the Prime Minister gave the public a final warning to take social distancing seriously, otherwise he will look at measures to put the UK into lockdown within 24 hours. His stark warning came as the UK death toll rose by 48 in just 24 hours to 281 people, with more than 5,600 confirmed cases.

One of the deaths included a person aged 18 with an underlying health condition, thought to be the youngest victim to have died from the virus so far.

As the outbreak in the UK continues to accelerate, details of the effort to help protect 1.5 million vulnerable people were released last night.

The vulnerable will be sent letters by the NHS “strongly advising” them not to go out for at least 12 weeks from today.

A network of community hubs is being set up across the UK to ensure the delivery of food supplies to at-risk people with serious medical conditions. Those at-risk people include people with specific cancers, severe respiratory conditions and those who have received organ transplants.

Councils, pharmacists and members of the Armed Forces will help this work and there will be opportunities for members of the public to volunteer.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We will be creating a network of local hubs, covering the whole country.

“This will require a major national effort in a very short period of time.