The 'high risk' people told to stay home of 12 weeks as pregnant women are added to the list

The government have issued new advice for people "vulnerable" to coronavirus.

The advice comes as the health authorities move to also include pregnant women in the high risk category.

Public Health England chief medical officer Chris Whitty said those people must stay at home for 12 weeks.

Speaking at a press conference with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Mr Whitty said there were three groups who should be staying home.

There were:

Over 70s

Mr Whitty said: "This is a quite large group, of people who are over 70 (and possibly quite healthy)".

He added: "We know that older people are at greater risk but that doesn't necessarily mean that they will get it worse."

People who have a significant health condition

Mr Whitty said: "These are mainly adults we want them to take even great care. This is critical."

He said the geoup included: "People in adult life who would normally be advised to have the flu jab with chronic conditions like chronic heart disease or chronic kidney disease."

Pregnant women

Mr Whitty described this as "a precautionary measure" because "we are early in out understanding of this virus and we want to be sure, [so will include] women who are pregnant".

What the government are advising

He said that these people would need to stay home for at least 12 weeks which would take them through to mid June.

During the press conference Mr Whitty said there were three types of death from the virus:

1. Those who die directly from the virus.
2. Those who die because the NHS has become overwhelmed. Mr Whitty said: "This is important, there are other deaths that could occur through the NHS being overwhelmed. If the ICU got to the point where they were overwhelmed then people could die because they were not able to get the necessary care."
3. The third factor relates to negative health consequences of the decisions taken by the government. Mr Whitty said: "Some of the measures were are doing could have impacts on people's health in themselves."

Johnson says it looks as though we are approaching the “fast growth” phase of the curve. That means cases are expected to double every five days.

MPs and peers who are over 70 will have to stay away from parliament according to Johnson.

In addition the PM added that he does not want to see people unnecessarily visiting care homes.