British doctors could be called out of retirement to help fight coronavirus

An meeting of the government's emergency 'Cobra' committee on Monday will decide on a battle plan

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency Cobra meeting and could call retired health professionals out of retirement to deal with coronavirus crisis. Reuters

The British government may ask retired doctors and nurses to return to frontline work as part of a national battle plan to tackle coronavirus.

The experienced medics would help bolster contingency health plans in the UK should cases of Covid-19 grow. So far, the country has 23 confirmed cases but the authorities are braced for more as the virus spreads across the globe.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the government's emergency 'Cobra' committee on Monday to decide on the way forward.

Ministers in all government departments have established a Cabinet Office “war-room” to determine the most effective public health response to containing the virus.

That could include restrictions on travel and asking employees to work from home where possible, if the outbreak worsens.

"Coronavirus may very well be a challenge in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

"But I have no doubt that with the help of the NHS and its incomparable staff this country will get through it and beat it.”

In Scotland, doctors have begun testing many patients with coughs, fevers, shortness of breath or flu-like symptoms, "regardless of whether they have travelled to a place where the virus is known to be spreading," said chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood.

"Not everyone with flu will be tested, but this is a sensible step to take as a precautionary measure to give us an early warning of community transmission," she said.

More than 200 British holidaymakers have been quarantined at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in Tenerife since Tuesday, after four Italians there contracted the virus.

The government plans for coronavirus are an adapted version of existing protocols to deal with a pandemic outbreak of seasonal flu.