The Coronavirus is likely to Reach its Peak around Easter and infect around 6Million People in Britain

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 07 Mar 2020 • 13:08

Government experts say the coronavirus outbreak could peak around Easter as millions are expected to be struck down with the deadly bug.

Microbiologist Peter Piot said: “I’m often asked whether the threat is being overhyped. The answer, to me, is no. This is the real thing, I think we will go to the peak of the epidemic somewhere around Easter.”

He went on to say:

He said: “We have cases across Europe, across the world, this is a global epidemic and we would expect to see more cases in the UK.

“We’ve got a reasonable worst-case scenario… that involves 80 percent of the population and we think the mortality rate is one percent or lower. I expect it to be less than that.

“It takes about 12 weeks to reach the peak then maybe about 12 weeks to go away again.

“You expect about 90 percent of cases in the nine weeks in the middle of that and 50 percent of cases in the three weeks of the middle of that.”

Meanwhile, a child at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool has tested positive for coronavirus. The patient is one of at least three children in the UK to have become infected with the deadly bug.