Chilling study that changed Britain's virus plan

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled much more stringent measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak after new research indicated a quarter of a million people would have died under previous plans to control the spread of pandemic.

A crucial projection study helped convince the British government to impose stricter measures against the coronavirus this week.The study --- led by Imperial College-- painted a worst case picture of hundreds of thousands of deaths and a health service overwhelmed with severely sick patients. It used new data gathered from Italy -- the worst infected country in Europe -- and compared the potential impact of COVID-19 with the devastating 1918 flu outbreak. It concluded that the outbreak could have caused more than half a million deaths in Britain.

But the scientists say that with containment measures - including extreme social distancing -- the epidemic's curve and peak could be flattened. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shut down social life in the UK on Monday (March 16) and ordered the most vulnerable to isolate for 12 weeks. Johnson’s government had been criticized by some health experts who said Britain was not acting fast or forcefully enough. The government said Monday it had accelerated its plans based on "the advice of the experts" But, according to those involved with the decision, this study helped change the British government's position.

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