NHS doctors face being pulled out of retirement as Boris Johnson sets up a "war room" to fight fears of a Coronavirus pandemic.
A Cabinet Office team including scientists and communications experts, will produce a revised contingency plan this week - with dramatic implications for people across the UK.
It will include calling doctors out of retirement, travel restrictions and ordering more people to work from home. All government departments will have a minister in charge of co-ordinating the response.
There are plans for special indemnity coverage for care workers asked to come into contact with victims.
Rules on school class sizes could be relaxed so lessons can go ahead if teachers are sick.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock intends to blitz the public with information on how to stay protected, and the PM will on Sunday kick off with advice of his own before chairing a COBRA meeting on Monday.
He said: “We must listen to the advice of the Chief Medical Officer – especially about the importance of washing our hands with soap.
“We should be doing that for 20 seconds, and more often than we would normally think was necessary.
“This will make a real difference in stopping this virus spread.”
And Mr Hancock added: “I have every confidence in our nation’s ability to respond to the threat."
The plans include a Dad's Army-style emergency registration of health professionals who have retired.
No more detail on the out-of-retirement plans are available at present, but a government spokesman confirmed the plans "could include looking at emergency registration of health professionals who have retired."
A government spokesman added: "While we are currently in the ‘containment’ phase where isolated cases are transferred to hospital and detailed contact tracing is carried out, the next phase could see broader measures introduced to keep the public safe and relieve the pressure on the NHS."
The UK currently has 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus but fears of a wider outbreak worsened after a person diagnosed on Friday as having contracted the disease did so without travelling abroad.
Expert teams are actively tracing those who have come into contact with the person, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are expected to give more regular press briefings as of next week to reassure the public.
