THE UK's coronavirus outbreak looks to be slowing down because of the Government's unprecedented decision to put Britain in lockdown, one of Number 10's leading experts said today.

Professor Neil Ferguson claims to have detected "early signs" that the spread of the life-threatening infection was being curbed by the draconian measure, with the rate of increase in hospital admissions easing.

But Professor Ferguson - one of the authors of a bleak Imperial College London report that convinced Downing Street to ramp up its efforts to stop the crisis after warning that 250,000 Brits could die under a controversial plan to build-up 'herd immunity' - warned deaths are still likely to rise sharply as they lag two or three weeks behind the new infections.

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He also suggested that up to three per cent of the UK - around two million people - might already have been infected, and said the figure could be as high as five per cent in London.

The slight glimmer of optimism emerged after Boris Johnson delivered a rallying cry for Britain to work together, thanking everyone who was contributing in a video from his quarantine bunker in Downing Street.

But deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries has warned that Britons should not expect a return to 'normal life' for six months, and possibly longer.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, leading epidemiologist Professor Ferguson said: "We think the epidemic is just about starting to slow in the UK right now... it is the result of the actions people have taken and governments have taken."

He said the number of deaths was a reliable indicator of an outbreak, but gave you the picture from two to three weeks ago.

"In the UK we can see some early signs of slowing in some indicators - less in deaths as deaths do lag by a long time...

"But if you look as the number of new hospital admissions per day for instance, that does seem to be slowing down a little bit now."

Professor Ferguson stressed the rates of hospital admissions had "not yet plateaued" but the rate of increase looked to be slowing.

He also said the epidemic was spreading at different rates in different parts of the country.

"It is quite clear across the country, the epidemic is in different stages in different parts of the country," he said.

He said antibody tests, currently in final stages of validation, would be "critical" to the understanding of the epidemic, adding they would 'hopefully' be available in days.

Dr Harries told a Downing Street press conference last night that people should not be viewing the coronavirus crisis as something that will blow over soon.

She said it will not be clear whether the "social distancing" lockdown is working for another two or three weeks - after Easter - with deaths set to rise further.

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