Boris Johnson promises 'transparency' on Coronavirus

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced criticism over his slow response to the outbreak.

Asked whether the Government is withholding information from the public about the coronavirus, Boris told Holly and Phillip: “No, not at all. Let me clear that up immediately, because it is very important that we are transparent and that people understand that we’re transparent.

"Public Health England needs to be absolutely sure about the diagnoses of these cases and so what they’re doing is identifying the region where they think there are incidences and then within 24 hours confirming the exact location to be sure that we’ve got the right thing."

"We’re building up a map, a proper database the public can access showing the whole thing in real-time.”

Asked about what the government are doing to actively stop the threat of the virus from spreading, he said: "The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is meeting and they will consider a range of options that we have to try and delay the spread. They range from things like stopping big public gatherings, sporting gatherings and so on, closing schools, quite draconian stuff to more targeted intervention.”

For now, Mr Johnson has warned against stockpiling and closing schools, claiming such measures 'don't work as well'.

He added: "What they’re [SAGE] telling me is that actually, slightly counter-intuitively, things like closing schools and stopping big gatherings don't work as well perhaps as people think in stopping the spread.

“Our advice on school closures remains pretty much as it was, which is that we don’t think at the moment that schools should be closing unless of course there are cases in the school.”

Elsewhere, the Prime Minister also addressed his "exciting news" after Holly and Phil extended their congratulations to him and girlfriend Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant with their first child together.

Asked if he’ll change any nappies, he said: “I expect so… That was a really tricky one there… There was nowhere to go on that one. If I’d have said no.

Commenting on never talking about his personal life, Boris admitted: “Very sensibly. I’ve spent a very long time deliberately not going on about it, for a very good reason. There are people that I love that I don’t want to put in public debate and that’s the reason.”

Watch the full interview below: