Reuters, London
Britain will isolate older people "within weeks" and force into quarantine anyone diagnosed with coronavirus, the government said as it stepped up measures that have so far been less stringent than elsewhere in Europe.

The British Heath Secretary Matt Hancock said people aged over 70 would be shielded from the virus by self-isolating for up to four months, with an announcement "in the coming weeks".

Britain has taken a distinctly different approach to tackling coronavirus from European countries such as Italy, Spain and France which have imposed stringent lockdowns to try to slow the spread of the disease.

"We will be setting it out with more detail when it's the right time to do so because we absolutely appreciate that that is a very big ask of the elderly and the vulnerable and it's for their own self-protection," he told Sky News yesterday.

The government will legislate this week to force people into quarantine if they are diagnosed with the virus, he said, and was also ready to ban mass gatherings.

"We are going to take the powers to make sure that we can quarantine people if they are a risk to public health," Hancock said. "I doubt we will need to use it very much because people are being very responsible and people need to be responsible."

Britain is aiming to delay the peak of infection to prevent health services from being overwhelmed when they are less able to cope.

Britain had 1,140 confirmed cases and 21 deaths from coronavirus.

Hancock said Britain's approach was underpinned by scientific evidence, which it would publish in the coming days, and it was aimed solely at saving lives.

""The goal here is to protect life, the measures have to be sustainable. We will stop at nothing to fight this virus," he told the BBC.