Isolating people aged over 70 for up to four months is in Britain's action plan to tackle coronavirus and it will be implemented in the coming weeks, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday.

Asked by Sky News whether people would be told to isolate for up to four months, Hancock said: "That is in the plan, yes, it's clearly in the action plan... 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 said the announcement would come "certainly in the coming weeks, absolutely."