Ten cases confirmed in Yorkshire

TEN cases of coronavirus have been so far been confirmed in Yorkshire.

Three cases each have been confirmed in Leeds and York, while two cases of the potentially fatal pandemic virus have been confirmed in Barnsley.

One case each has been confirmed in Bradford and Hull local authority areas.

However, no coronavirus (Covid-19) cases have been confirmed in the Yorkshire council areas of Calderdale, Doncaster, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kirklees, North Yorkshire, Rotherham, Sheffield or Wakefield.

This is according to the latest NHS data which was updated at 4pm yesterday (Saturday), and was correct as of 9am yesterday.

Across the UK, 14 cases were at the time awaiting clarification.

The local authority areas with the most confirmed cases were Devon (10), Hertfordshire (8) and Brighton and Hove (7).

The Government is preparing to mobilise an army of three million healthcare volunteers to battle Covid-19.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is calling on people willing to give up a few hours to help out in – hospitals, nursing homes and community centres to fall in.

They may also make home visits, help with admin or repair work or do fundraising.

Mr Hancock has said he will guarantee volunteers’ permanent jobs for a month in the event that Covid-19 reaches pandemic proportions.

It came as a further 42 UK cases were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total number diagnosed to 206.

Two patients have died – a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s.

Mr Hancock said: “I want to ensure Government is doing everything in its power to be ready to mitigate this threat.

Public safety is my – priority. Responding to coronavirus is a massive national effort.”

It has yet to be decided who will pay volunteers’ wages and Mr Hancock will thrash details out with business chiefs.

The Health Secretary spoke as it emerged the Government could be put on lockdown over the virus threat, with civil servants ordered to work from home.

We are currently still within the – ”contain” phase of Whitehall’s strategy to combat the disease – but are expected to enter the “delay” phase this week.

That is when emergency measures will be fast-tracked through Parliament.

The final phase will be “mitigate”, arrived at when our chief medical officers confirm that we are in the clutches of a full-blown pandemic.