The British government: plan for the worst case scenario for COVID-19

A fifth of the British workforce may be ill at the peak of the outbreak of coronavirus. The police because of the shortage of staff associated with the epidemic COVID-19, will be forced to focus only on the most serious crimes. Even the army can be called upon to help in the fight against infection.

It was a scenario outlined in the planning document: the 28 pages, published by the British government on Tuesday.

Public health officials said they are preparing to a reasonable worst-case scenario, when 80 percent of people infected with coronavirus, but expect that the number of “much below that”.

Many of the staff officers in the British public health system are technically private contractors, and afraid of not only risk, but also opportunities to be quarantined and miss the income that they can afford to lose.

Currently in Britain was 51 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday that there was “a high probability” that their number will increase.

But he said the vast majority of people will experience only mild symptoms, and that the scenarios set out in the plan of action is something that the government can do, if it gets worse, not that it does now.

The government also stated that it was considering plans to delay medical care, which is not considered an emergency, and the return of retired doctors, measures that may be required to assist the health care system that is already struggling with a shortage of beds and employees.