People aged over 70 in Britain will be asked to stay in strict isolation at home or in care homes for up to 4 months under a radical new plan to prevent them from catching the coronavirus.
Asked to confirm an ITV report of the proposal, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday: "That is in the action plan, yes."
"And we will be setting it out with more detail when it is the right time to do so because we absolutely appreciate that it is a very big ask of the elderly and the vulnerable, and it's for their own self-protection."
Hancock said the plan was a "very big ask" for older people, but said it was a measure for their own protection, and confirmed it would be introduced in the "coming weeks."
He also warned that the UK risked having a severe shortage of ventilators, amid concerns that intensive care units will be unable to cope with the number of patients who have confirmed cases of the coronavirus, which can cause respiratory problems, especially among elder patients.
Hancock told Sky News: "We start with around 5,000 ventilators, we think we need many times more than that, and we are saying if you produce a ventilator then we will buy it.
"No number is too high."
A total of 1140 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK as of Saturday, up from 801 on Friday, while 21 people have died, up from 10.
The figures represent the biggest single-day jump in both the death count and the number of confirmed cases since the UK outbreak began.
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