Britain should expect only a slow decline of COVID-19 cases - health official

Britain should expect to see only a slow descent in cases and deaths from COVID-19, given the experience of other countries that are further along in their outbreaks, the government's chief medical adviser said on Wednesday.

"Even in those countries which started their epidemic curve earlier than the UK, and which are still ahead, the downward slope from the point where we change is a relatively slow one," Chris Whitty, who is the Chief Medical Officer for England, said at a news conference, referring to a graph showing the 7-day rolling average of deaths in different countries.

"We should anticipate the same situation in the UK," he said. "We should not expect this to be a sudden fall away of cases."