Britain set to isolate over-70s as coronavirus deaths rise to 35

LONDON, (Reuters) - Britain will isolate older people “within weeks” and force into quarantine anyone diagnosed with coronavirus, the government said as it stepped up measures that have so far been less stringent than elsewhere in Europe.

The British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people aged over 70 would be shielded from the virus by self-isolating for up to four months, with an announcement “in the coming weeks”.

Britain has taken a distinctly different approach to tackling coronavirus from European countries such as Italy, Spain and France which have imposed stringent lockdowns to try to slow the spread of the disease.

The number of deaths of Britons with coronavirus jumped by 14 in the last 24 hours to 35, while the total diagnosed rose by 20% to 1,372, health authorities said yesterday.

Hancock said the rise in Britain had been slower than in other parts of Europe, in part due to measures taken by authorities to trace people who had contact with those affected.

The government said last week that in terms of the scale of the outbreak Britain was four weeks behind Italy, where 1,809 have died and 24,747 have been diagnosed.

He said isolating old people was in Britain’s action plan, but it was a “very big ask” and people could tire of complying.

“We will be setting it out with more detail when it’s the right time to do so because we absolutely appreciate that that is a very big ask of the elderly and the vulnerable and it’s for their own self-protection,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

The government will legislate this week to force people into quarantine if they are diagnosed with the virus, he said, and was also ready to ban mass gatherings.