The Prime Minister has chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on coronavirus following a weekend which saw the first confirmed case in Scotland and the number of people infected in the UK climb to 36.
Boris Johnson said the spread of the coronavirus was “likely” to become “more significant” for the UK in the coming days.
He said: “We have also agreed a plan so that if and when it starts to spread, as I’m afraid it looks likely it will, we are in a position to take the steps necessary to… contain the spread of the disease as far as we can, and to protect the most vulnerable.
“We will be announcing that plan not just tomorrow but in the days and weeks ahead as the thing develops.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined the UK session, after the first case north of the border was confirmed in Tayside on Sunday.
She said the country is in the “containment phases” of dealing with coronavirus.
Speaking at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh alongside Health Secretary Jeane Freeman and Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood, she said Scotland was not at the stage of having to cancel major events.
She said: “We are not at that stage yet and decisions about if and when we reach that stage and what the implications will be will be guided very firmly by the scientific advice the four governments are receiving.”