The government has mostly stopped trying to "contain" the virus and is instead focusing on trying to delay its spread, the chief medical officer said on Thursday.
He said containing the spread of the virus among the early few patients who caught it was now "extraordinar[ily] unlikely" long-term outcome, and said the government was now focused on trying to delay the outbreak until the spring.
Whitty said that approach — which overlaps in many ways with "contain" — had several benefits. Those include delaying the peak until the NHS is in a better position to respond, and buying more time so that the disease can be better managed, possibly with the aid of new drugs.
Additionally, there may be a benefit to delaying the outbreak until the spring or summer, when the rate of infection may go down, as is the case with flu.