WATCH: How seriously should we be taking the coronavirus outbreak?
The prime minister has outlined the Government's "battle plan" to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the UK.
The prime minister has said that the public will be asked to accept “the advice for managing Covid-19 for most people will be self-isolation at home and simple over the counter medicines”.
The main focus of the plan is to delay any major outbreak until the warmer months, no earlier than June or July, to reduce the pressures that medical staff face from seasonal illnesses such as flu.
Predictions also suggest that up to a fifth of UK workers could be off sick at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic.
The government's contingency plans involve postponing non-urgent hospital care and treatments, while a drop in police numbers due to illness could also mean low priority crime cases are dropped.
We spoke to Jonathan Ball, a professor in Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, to find answers to some of our questions.
1. Some people think the mainstream media is creating a panic around the corona virus. How seriously should people take it?
2. Is it any worse than ordinary flu that also kills people each year?
3. What are the chances of people sitting at home catching it and if they do catch it how harmful would it be?
4. What can people do to protect themselves? Should we be wearing masks, are anti bacterial wipes and hand gels effective in stopping the transmission?
5. The government have released their action plan. Do you think the response from the government has been quick enough?
The government's medical advisers believe that, based on data from China and the rest of the world, the maximum mortality rate is probably one per cent of those infected.
Although there is a worst case scenario infection rate of 80% of the population, experts say that based on the Wuhan experience this is more likely to be 20%.
They also say that children seem to only experience very mild symptoms, with those most at risk being the elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions.
The plan also outlined how medical experts believe that infection is more likely to be transmitted in small gatherings, like pubs, rather than big evens such as sport matches.