Prince Charles has coronavirus  | Daily Mail Online

Prince Charles has coronavirus and may have been contagious just 24 hours after last seeing his 93-year-old mother the Queen, who is well but has been taking medical advice since her son fell ill, it was revealed today.

The Prince of Wales, 71, tested positive yesterday and is in self-isolation on the Balmoral estate in Scotland with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who is without any symptoms of the virus, which has killed 435 and infected 8,000 more in the UK so far.

A royal source said Charles’ doctor’s most conservative estimate was that the prince was contagious on March 13 – 24 hours after he last saw his mother. A Buckingham Palace spokesman has said: ‘Her Majesty remains in good health. The Queen is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare’. 

Charles is said to have ‘mild symptoms’ that started over the weekend and has fallen ill after meeting coronavirus-stricken Prince Albert of Monaco, who tested positive five days ago after he sat opposite the Prince of Wales at a WaterAid event in London on March 10. 

A Clarence House spokesman said: ‘The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual.  

‘The Duchess of Cornwall has also been tested but does not have the virus. In accordance with Government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland. The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire where they met the criteria required for testing’. 

Charles’ spokesman said it was impossible to say where he caught it from because of the large number of public engagements he has carried out in ‘recent weeks’ – but it will raise questions over whether he got it from Prince Albert and if the heir to the throne has spread it himself.

The Prince of Wales was last at Buckingham Palace on March 12, where he ‘briefly’ saw the Queen, and his illness will raise fears for the health of elderly royals including his mother and Prince Philip, who are together at Windsor Castle.  

Charles is understood not to have seen Prince Philip for many weeks, possibly during the Megxit crisis talks at Sandringham, where his 98-year-old father was based until he flew by helicopter to Windsor last Thursday. 

William and Kate are at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, while Harry and Meghan are back in Canada, after both couples saw Charles at the Commonwealth service at Westminster on March 9. He also met with a string of celebrities at the Prince’s Trust Awards 2020 in London, attended by Ant and Dec, Philip Schofield, Fearne Cotton, Pierce Brosnan, Richard E Grant, Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood, X Factor star Fleur East, Dina Asher-Smith and Craig David. 

On  the evening of March 12, after investitures at Buckingham Palace, The Prince of Wales with the Lord Mayor of the City of London and the High Commissioner for Australia at a Mansion House in London, his last known engagement.

As coronavirus reached the royal family on the second day of Britain’s lockdown, it has also emerged:

• The UK Government claims to have bought 3.5million coronavirus antibody tests – but refuses to reveal who makes them, when they will be available on the NHS or whether they’ll be used at home;
• Shoppers are still ignoring social distancing rules amid fears stores will become hotbeds of coronavirus, with growing calls for the Government lockdown to become more stringent
• Sadiq Khan has defied instruction from Boris Johnson to increase London’s dangerously cramped Tube services – saying services will be cut further because so many staff are off sick;  
• London and Madrid now face worse coronavirus outbreaks than Italy’s Lombardy region with deaths doubling every two days. But in better news Germany sees a drop in infection rate from 21% to 15%;
• FTSE 100 reaches highest level in two weeks after rising nearly 5% with 258-point surge as world markets rally; 

Until he fell ill, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne has been continuing to carry out public engagements despite the coronavirus crisis – but has avoided shaking hands, instead using a namaste gesture.

Arriving at the Prince’s Trust awards a fortnight ago, Charles twice extended his hand to greet people before withdrawing it at the last minute in mock horror and greeting then with a bow and the Hindi greeting ‘Namaste’.

Turning to Dame Martina Milburn, the Trust’s chief executive, the prince said: ‘It’s just so hard to remember not to.’

At the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, no members of the royal family shook hands, with the Prince greeting people with Namastes and the Duke of Sussex elbow bumping Craig David.

But despite avoiding close contact with people he has caught Covid-19 – and it came days after a member of Buckingham Palace staff tested positive for coronavirus. 

The Royal Family appeared to have already prepared for the eventuality that one of them could be diagnosed with coronavirus, having been split up across Britain – away from London.

The Queen is with Prince Philip at Windsor Castle, Prince William and Kate are at Amner Hall in Norfolk, and Charles and Camilla are at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.

Charles’s last public engagement was on March 12, but he did have a number of private meetings with Highgrove and Duchy individuals, all of whom have been made aware.

They added that Charles has not seen the Queen since before March 13. A small number of people living and working at Birkhall are remaining at the residence and self-isolating.

The source said the prince and the duchess remained in good spirits, and the prince was up and about and not bedridden.

Medical advice is that it is unlikely to escalate into a more serious case. Charles has spoken to his sons the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, as well as the Queen.

Charles had been displaying ‘mild symptoms’ over the weekend before being tested on Monday.

The heir to the throne’s last public engagement was on March 12 when he attended a Mansion House dinner hosted by William Russell, Lord Mayor of the City of London, and George Brandis, the High Commissioner for Australia, in aid of the Australian bushfire relief and recovery effort.

Sometime during the day the prince saw the Queen privately.

He last saw the Queen at a public event on Monday March 9, when senior royals including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

A member of the Scottish Parliament has expressed surprise that the Prince of Wales was tested for Covid-19 on the NHS.

Joan McAlpine, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, tweeted that she wishes Charles a speedy recovery, but added: ‘Given that his symptoms are said to be mild, like many I wonder how he was tested when many NHS and social care workers cannot get tested.

‘My nephew, who has serious asthma and a chest infection was recently refused a test. £coronavirus.’

It comes after Clarence House said Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were tested on the NHS in Aberdeenshire, where they are currently staying, as ‘they met the criteria required for testing’.

It also said Charles is experiencing ‘mild symptoms’.

The NHS Scotland website says people will only generally be tested for Covid-19 if they ‘have a serious illness that requires admission to hospital’.

Charles and Camilla are both aged over 70 – the age group told to take social distancing particularly seriously.

The Government advice states: ‘We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (Covid-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.’

The group includes anyone aged 70 or over, regardless of any medical conditions.

Around 1.5 million in England fall into a more serious group and have been told to stay at home for 12 weeks.

This includes those who have received a donor organ, anyone on active chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer, some with specific cancers and people with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma.

Charles’ health has been relatively robust. Last November, the Prince of Wales was seen with painfully swollen hands and feet during the first day of his royal tour in India, sparking concerns for his health.

As he removed his shoes to step into a Sikh temple in New Delhi, the 71-year-old’s fingers and toes were considerably red and inflamed.

But the heir to the throne dismissed any apparent discomfort, which may have been caused by the nine-hour flight to South Asia.

And in 2018, Prince Charles admitted he was no longer in the shape he once was.

As he approached his 70th birthday, the royal joked that he knows ‘only too well’ the inevitable physical decline that comes with reaching such a milestone.

‘I don’t know about you,’ he told a crowd of septuagenarians in Brisbane, Australia at the time, ‘but now bits of me keep falling off at regular intervals.’

Charles has, certainly, suffered a catalogue of injuries over the years.

When he met boxer Amir Khan in 2015, the pair compared battle wounds — and it turned out Charles had done himself more damage in his lifetime than the former world champion had suffered in the ring.

In recent years, his catalogue of injuries include a swollen eye caused by dust from a tree, to a cracked rib sustained in a tumble from a horse and a non-cancerous growth which was removed from his face in 2008.

Could other royals now have coronavirus? How Prince Charles’s met the Queen and family members from Prince William and Kate Middleton to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the two weeks before testing positive

Prince Charles has had contact with possibly hundreds of people over the past fortnight, including the Queen and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The 71-year-old heir to the throne, who has tested positive for coronavirus, carried out at least six engagements as the outbreak gathered pace.

He last met with the Queen briefly at Buckingham Palace on March 12, with doctors believing he could have been contagious from the following day.

Charles also met all the senior members of the Royal Family apart from Prince Philip at the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on March 9.

Others royals at the service included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who have since moved to Amner Hall in Norfolk with their three children.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have since returned to Vancouver Island before they step down as senior royals on March 31, were also there.

The Queen – who remains in ‘good health’ – travelled from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle last Thursday, where Philip joined her from Sandringham. 

Charles’s last public engagement was on March 12 when he attended a dinner at Mansion House in aid of the Australian bushfire relief and recovery effort.

But following this Charles did have a number of private meetings with Highgrove and Duchy individuals, all of whom have been made aware.

On March 9, the day of the Commonwealth Service, Charles and his wife Camilla also went to Marlborough House in London for a reception.

They were guests of Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Scotland at the event to mark Commonwealth Day at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

One day later, Charles was with Monaco’s head of state Prince Albert II, who has since tested positive for coronavirus.

Charles is not believed to have shaken hands with Prince Albert but attended a roundtable meeting with him at the WaterAid Summit in London on that day. 

And on March 11 Charles, the president of the Prince’s Trust, met award winners and the charity’s supporters at the annual Prince’s Trust Awards.

Celebrities he met at the event included actors Pierce Brosnan, James Norton and Richard E. Grant, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and presenters Ant and Dec.

Then one day later on March 12, Charles had a short meeting with the Queen in the morning at Buckingham Palace after holding an investitures ceremony.

Charles gave honours to children’s TV presenter Baroness Benjamin, Scottish composer Helen Grime and The Searchers singer Michael Prendergast.

And later that evening, Charles attended a dinner at Mansion House in aid of the Australian bushfire relief and recovery effort.

He met with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, William Russell, and the High Commissioner for Australia, George Brandis, at the event.

The prince was pictured practising namastes instead of handshakes at his public events, including when the royals gathered for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, and the Prince’s Trust event on March 11.

Today, a Clarence House spokesman said Charles was displaying ‘mild symptoms’ but is in good health as he self isolates at home in Scotland.

Camilla, 72, who is also at Birkhall, in Aberdeenshire, has tested negative for the virus, so is separating herself from the prince.

Buckingham Palace said the 93-year-old monarch, who is staying at Windsor Castle with the 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, remains in good health and is following all appropriate advice.

Philip was not with the Queen at Buckingham Palace when she last met Charles on March 12.

Charles has spoken to both his sons the Duke of Cambridge, who is in Norfolk with the Duchess of Cambridge and their young children, and the Duke of Sussex, who is in Canada. He has also been in touch with the Queen.

In a statement, Clarence House said: ‘The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual.

‘In accordance with Government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.

‘The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire where they met the criteria required for testing.

‘It is not possible to ascertain from whom the Prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.’

A source said his doctor’s most conservative estimate was that the prince was contagious on March 13.

A small number of people living and working at Birkhall are remaining at the residence and self-isolating.

The source said the prince was up and about and not bedridden. Medical advice is that it is unlikely to escalate into a more serious case.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said today: ‘Her Majesty The Queen remains in good health.

‘The Queen last saw the Prince of Wales briefly after the investiture on the morning of March 12 and is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare.’  

 

Buckingham Palace scrapped a televised coronavirus address by the Queen ‘for her own safety’ and to ‘keep the airwaves clear for Prime Minister and doctors’, royal expert claims

Buckingham Palace scrapped a national televised address about coronavirus from the Queen ‘for her own safety’ and to keep the airways clear for politicians and medical professionals, a royal expert has claimed.

Last week Her Majesty, 93, issued a statement on the outbreak, saying the UK is ‘entering a period of great concern and uncertainty’.

Speaking after leaving London for Windsor, where she was joined by Prince Philip, she urged Britain to come together amid the crisis and assured the country that the Royal Family is ready to ‘play its part’ in beating the deadly infection. 

There had been speculation that the monarch would deliver this message on a national televised broadcast. 

Omid Scobie, a royal contributor on ABC, admitted he was confused by the sudden change to a written statement, having expressed a televised address.

However, royal commentator Victoria Arbiter explained that there were two reasons behind the decision not to go ahead with it.

Speaking on The HeirPod, she said: ‘There is a real sense that they need to keep the focus and keep the airwaves clear for the experts, for the doctors, for the Prime Minister.’

She added that the statement was a way to get the message out there as it could be printed on newspapers, posted on social media and read out on broadcast. 

‘It could reach a huge number of people without taking away airtime,’ she continued.

‘It is inevitable that at some stage she will address the nation. I hope it is not because things have gotten considerably worse but that we are coming out the other side.

‘But I think, that kind of decision would have been made for purely practical reasons and not wanting to overstretch resources.’

Victoria also suggested that the move was to limit the number of people around Her Majesty.

‘We know that when the Queen gives an address, there are a lot of people involved,’ she explained.

‘There is lighting, and sound, and hair and make-up, and producers, and directors, and, at least in the US every, major news station has reported a positive coronavirus case.

‘There is an abundance of caution given the Queen’s age and that she and Prince Philip are protected. So that impacted the decision-making.’

FEMAIL has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. 

Late last week, Downing Street sources said the Queen is preparing to make a televised address to calm the nation’s nerves during the ‘difficult times ahead’.

With the death toll from Covid-19 continuing to rise at a rapid rate, it is understood that as the ‘mother of the nation’ the Queen is waiting for the right moment and wants to time her address to make the maximum impact.    

Doctors say Prince Charles’ good diet and healthy lifestyle may keep him healthy 

The Prince of Wales Prince Charles’s medical history isn’t publicly known – but he has had a catalogue of injuries over the years.

But doctors have said the infected 71-year-old is in an ‘excellent position’ to be shielded from the life-threatening virus.

Dr Sarah Brewer, a former GP, said his ‘good diet and healthy lifestyle’ should protect him from any complications of COVID-19.

Prince Charles is known to be in a high-risk category because of his age. He is not known to have any underlying health conditions.

Dr Brewer added: ‘Should he become unwell, his underlying fitness and excellent medical care should ensure he makes a good recovery.’

She said that he should stay away from any of his relatives not living in the same household – adding that the ‘same rules apply to everyone’.

Prince Charles fell ill a fortnight after meeting coronavirus-stricken Prince Albert of Monaco (March 10), who tested positive five days ago.

Prince of Wales was last at Buckingham Palace on March 12 for investitures, where he ‘briefly’ saw the Queen, 93.

His illness will raise fears for the health for elderly royals including his mother and Prince Philip, who are together at Windsor Castle.

William and Kate are at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, while Harry and Meghan are back in Canada.

The victims of Sadiq Khan’s stubborn REFUSAL to run more Tubes amid coronavirus crisis: Mother of premature baby and nurse forced to risk health on packed carriages and teacher who QUIT over fears

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told MPs today that he believes it should be possible to ‘run a better Tube system at the moment’ in light of overcrowding on the London Underground. 

Sadiq Khan sparked fury today and defied the Prime Minister as he warned Tube services will be cut back even further because one in three staff are now off sick – up from one in five overnight – despite dangerous conditions on trains for terrified coronavirus key workers. 

A special needs teacher told MailOnline he has quit work because of the dangers of contracting coronavirus while travelling on packed tubes, while the mother of a premature baby has revealed that she was worried about taking the Tube but had little choice if she wanted to visit her newly arrived son in hospital. 

Mary Selassie, 42, was taking the underground from Ealing Broadway to Westminster, the closest station to St Thomas’ hospital in South London where her son Elhan is being treated in a specialist intensive care unit after being born three months early. The journey takes around an hour.

She told MailOnline: ‘I need the underground at this time because without it I would not be able to spend time with my son. I’ve been doing this journey for the past three weeks and in the last few days the service has not been as regular. I don’t understand why they are reducing the number of trains because it just means that we have to wait for longer.

‘Many other people are in the same difficult position as me. They’re getting the tube because they have to. Of course I’m worried because there’s a very high chance that I could become infected using public transport and then I definitely would not be able to see my baby. This is just adding to my stress.’

The Prime Minister has told the Mayor of London to add more trains but London’s Tube network is packed again with Mr Khan accused of ‘risking lives’ after slashing number of trains at a time of national emergency.

Today one in three of TfL staff are ill or in self-isolation – including large numbers of drivers and customer-facing workers – with the sickness figures appearing to be disproportionately higher than among frontline workers in the NHS, police and fire services. Some have blamed the strength of the Tube unions and their threat to pull away members for the high level of staff absence.

MailOnline can reveal that during rush hour today some London Underground lines are currently only running one train every twenty minutes, when it should be one every three to  five minutes, causing more crammed conditions in ‘death trap’ carriages and on heaving platforms. 

As Britain started its second day of mass self-isolation today, it also emerged: 

• London is on a trajectory for a worse coronavirus outbreak than Lombardy in Italy with deaths doubling every two days and it could run out of intensive care beds by the end of the week;
• Parliament is shutting early tonight ‘until further notice’;
• Coronavirus could have infected as much as half of the population of the United Kingdom, according to researchers at the University of Oxford;
• FTSE 100 opens up 2% by 108 to 5,555 points after record day of trading yesterday as world markets seesaw;

Edvaldo DaSilva, 42, said he had tried and failed to find space to board the underground on Monday and Tuesday and today decided to stay at home. 

Mr DaSilva said: ‘I normally leave my home at Bethnal green and take the tube at around 7 am. ‘ Last week it was fine and I was able to get on to the trains. ‘ 

But on Monday and Tuesday it was impossible because their were less trains running than before. 

‘The platform was packed and the trains took about 15 minutes to arrive and then I couldn’t get on. I looked at everybody on the trains and I thought ‘they’re breathing all over each other. This is so dangerous’. 

‘We are supposed to be keeping two meters from people and now that they are less trains, people are being pushed together even more and it’s dangerous for our health. 

‘I saw passengers with their faces stuck next to others and it was terrible. It just needs one person on the train to have coronavirus and everybody is at risk.’ 

Mr DaSilva, who works at the Riverside School in Wood Green, added: ‘This is not acceptable. It’s really hard for me because I teach vulnerable young people life skills and I must be allowed to do my job. 

‘But my boss understands and now the government needs to understand. These tube trains are very dangerous for everyone staff and passengers. Something has to be done. 

‘They need to put new trains on or restrict people travelling. It’s so dangerous and opposite to what we are being told by the Government. I feel very sorry for those people who have to ride on those tubes so closely together. It is not right.’

Ana Gomes, 40 and Carlos Maestu, 51 were taking the central line from Ealing Broadway to West Acton following a shopping trip to a supermarket.

Ms Gomes, a waitress who is currently at home after the restaurant she works in closed, said: ‘We don’t want to get the tube, but we have to. The nearest supermarket to us is here in Ealing Broadway. Both of us are taking all the precautions we can, we’d rather not use public transport but what else are we supposed to do?

Spaniard Mr Maestu, a chef, who is also at home following the closure of the central London restaurant he works in added: ‘In Spain the lockdown is much tougher than in Britain. If you ask me, they need to shut down all public transport except to essential workers because there are still too many people out and about.

‘If they did close the tube it would be a big problem for me, but you can’t just think about yourself in a time like this.’

Ernesta Juskatie, 38, a dental nurse revealed that she was taking the underground to get to work.

She added: ‘The practice where I work is still open, so I don’t have much choice. When I’m on the underground, I don’t sit, and I don’t touch anything. I know that might not be enough to stop me getting infected but I’m doing all that I can.

‘Personally, I hope they close the whole network down, except for those who really need to get to work, like NHS staff. That way I would have no choice but to stay at home.’

Kim Black, 48, a child protection social worker from Oxford said that she was taking the underground to Paddington to catch a train to her home.

She added: ‘This is my last day at work and then I’ll be working from home. I just came into London to collect a laptop from my work and sort out some paperwork.

‘It’s actually quite pleasant commuting from Oxford at the moment because normally, you don’t even get a seat. The underground needs to keep going; there needs to be an increased service, not a decreased one because there are a lot of people who still need to use it.’   

As deaths in the capital doubled, the Mayor of London is facing mounting fury and pressure to restore services to normal levels with some NHS workers claiming they are now more worried about travelling to work than treating coronavirus patients in hospital.

But in a statement Mayor Khan this morning revealed more train services will go and said: ‘Nearly a third of TfL’s staff are now off sick or self-isolating – including train drivers and crucial control centre staff. Many of them have years of safety-critical training in order to run specific lines – so it is simply not possible to replace them with others. TfL will do everything possible to continue safely running a basic service for key workers, including our amazing NHS staff, but if the number of TfL staff off sick or self-isolating continues to rise – as we sadly expect it will – we will have no choice but to reduce services further.’.

There were grim scenes on the Tube again today where commuters with no choice but to go to work were faced to stand nose-to-nose with strangers on teeming trains.

Key worker Tony Drew tweeted: ‘No-one is listening to you and don’t need to reduce the service as much as you have. You need to get more trains on and stop putting the lives of key workers like me at risk’.

Kate Mat wrote: ‘I have zero respect for Sadiq & TFL! Are they really blind or just heartless??! They are putting key workers life in danger!!!! Nurses, doctors and other key workers can’t practice social distancing on cramped tubes!’  

A senior nurse named Danny posted on Twitter: ‘Another busy tube. Can we not stagger people’s start times so we aren’t all squashed on the same tube! This is unsafe and not fair!’, and Barry Trimble, whose work involves ensuring cancer patients receive chemotherapy, posted: ‘The Tube is packed, with social distancing impossible. We need more people to stay at home and more trains running in morning and evening peak.’

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said last night there is ‘no good reason’ Tube services have been slashed and Boris Johnson also questioned why up to three quarters of services had been axed in a call with Mr Khan yesterday,

Commuters have today vented their fury at the lack of trains, with one tweeting Mr Khan this morning with the plea: ‘You are herding key workers into a smaller space. Your decision is a difficult one but is directly risking lives. Please rethink this for our health workers so they can at least feel safe going to work’. Another NHS worker said: ‘Please sort the tubes out, this is risking lives. Emergency workers have to use TFL! Help now’.

Today 500 police officers were deployed at major stations to remind passengers that only those making essential journeys for work should be using the Tube and trains – but huge numbers have no choice but to head to work again today.

Mr Khan has blamed commuters for flouting a ban on ‘all non-essential travel’ and urged people to avoid rush hour ‘to save lives’ – claiming he does not have enough staff to return services to normal.   

Mr Hancock went on the attack as he was asked at a Downing Street press conference this evening why NHS staff and other key workers were being forced to put themselves at risk on crowded transport.

He said: ‘When it comes to the Tube, the first and the best answer is that Transport for London should have the Tube running in full so that people travelling on the tube are spaced out and can be further apart – obeying the two-metre rule wherever possible.

‘And there is no good reason in the information that I’ve seen that the current levels of tube provision should be as low as they are. We should have more tube trains running.’

Earlier, commuters packed in like sardines hit back at the Mayor, who runs the capital’s public transport network, with one victim claiming it was about saving money, tweeting: ‘Using the pandemic to save a few pennies. Nice work helping the people you claim to represent’. Another Londoner wrote: ‘Utter disgrace. We need professional leadership at this time’.

Sharing a horrifying picture of a packed Tube train this morning, NHS sonographer Nicola Smith tweeted: ‘I love my job, but now I’m risking my health just on the journey in?! @SadiqKhan put the tube service back to normal so we can all spread out, or @BorisJohnson start policing who’s getting on. Help me!’. After completing her journey to the Imperial College NHS Trust in west London, she said: ‘I worry for my health more on my commute than actually being in the hospital.’

And there is continuing confusion over who qualifies as a key worker, especially among London’s army of builders, meaning most had no choice but to ride the busy trains to work and run the terrifying risk of catching coronavirus, which has claimed 422 lives so far in the UK.

Boris Johnson also raised concerns about cutbacks in London Underground services with the capital’s Mayor in a calland is said to have asked him to put on more trains. His Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister raised with the mayor the issue of reduced services on the tube and its impact on people trying to get to work’. 

British Transport Police has said its officers will stop non-essential workers travelling on the Tube. A spokesman said the force would ‘ensure that only those making essential journeys for work are using the Tube and rail network’, adding: ‘Our officers will be on hand to support rail operators if people are clearly disregarding the advice’.

Hours after the PM said almost all Britons should should stay at home in the most draconian shutdown in modern history, people were nose-to-nose on the Tube, trains and buses despite being told to be two metres apart to avoid exposure to the killer virus.  

To stem the terrifying number of deaths, gatherings of more than two people are now banned and people must only leave their homes for essential supplies, medical help, or to travel to work if it is ‘absolutely’ unavoidable. Going out for exercise is allowed once a day as long as people stay two metres apart to stop the NHS collapsing under the strain of new cases.

But transport union TSSA today called for police to be deployed to make sure only key workers are getting on trains amid claims Tube staff could walk out unless ID checks start immediately because of ‘dangerous’ conditions at London stations. 

General secretary Manuel Cortes said: ‘Sadly, the situation on the London Underground has not improved. We urgently need British Transport Police and other officers at major stations across London’s transport network to ensure only those with a valid reason to travel are doing so in this emergency’.  

Mr Khan’s office hit back at Mr Hancock’s claim there was ‘no good reason’ not to have more frequent services on the Underground tonight.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor said: ‘This is simply not true. The Mayor has told ministers countless times over recent days that TfL simply cannot safely run a full service because of the levels of staff sickness and self-isolation.

‘Nearly a third of staff are already absent – there aren’t enough drivers and control staff to do it.

‘The Government must act urgently to get more people staying at home rather than going to work unnecessarily – that means taking the difficult decisions they are refusing to take to ban non-essential construction work and provide proper financial support to freelancers, the self-employed and those on zero-hours contracts to stay at home.’ 

Mr Khan has demanded that employers enable their staff to work from home ‘unless it’s absolutely necessary’ and avoid rush hour if they can’t, adding: ‘Ignoring these rules means more lives lost. Some of the people on the Tube yesterday and today are not essential workers, I can tell you that’.

But there is ongoing confusion caused by Boris Johnson’s long list of key workers – with many packed on to trains appearing to be labourers legitimately heading to building sites in London after housing secretary Robert Jenrick tweeted last night: ‘If you are working on site, you can continue to do so.’    

The Department for Transport is identifying those lines that need more trains. It said: ‘We are aware of some instances of overcrowding on certain train services this morning, and are working with operators regarding capacity on specific lines as needed to make sure there is space to be safe.’

C2C, which runs commuter services between Essex and London, is thought to have been identified as a line in need of increased capacity.

Passenger watchdog Transport Focus said: ‘The Government should continue to review what measures are needed to make sure social distancing on trains services is safe.’

The RMT union said: ‘We know that many people who are not traditionally employed, whether they are self-employed, on zero-hour contracts or in the gig economy, feel they have no choice but to go to work because of their financial situation. We therefore call on the Government to do far more to help these workers.’

Vernon Everitt of TfL said: ‘To save lives, everyone must follow the Government and Mayor’s instructions to stay at home and only travel if absolutely essential. Only critical workers should be using public transport, and no one else.’

The Prime Minister’s shutdown will last for a minimum of three weeks and the UK’s new state of emergency is unprecedented in modern history. 

Gatherings of more than two people will be banned in the most dramatic curbs on freedom ever seen in Britain in time of peace or war, as the government goes all out to stop the spread of the killer disease.

In a grim address to the nation from Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: ‘Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses’, adding: ‘I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home’.

He said any family reunions, weddings, baptisms and other social events must be cancelled to stop the NHS collapsing under the strain. Funerals can go ahead attended by just a handful of closest relatives.

People must only leave their homes for essential supplies, medical help, or to travel to work if it is ‘absolutely’ unavoidable. Going out for exercise will be allowed once a day, but parks will be patrolled to make sure there is no abuse of the rules. 

Police will have powers to fine those who do not fall into line, and disperse any public gatherings, in measures to curb movement only seen during the Second World War. Historians have claimed you have to go back to 1666 to find when people were last forced to stay at home en masse, when Britons had to stay at home for 40 days to halt the spread of the Great Plague. 

The PM was finally forced into the draconian move amid fury that many people are still flouting ‘social distancing’ guidance, with parks and Tube trains in London – regarded as the engine of the UK outbreak – still busy despite repeated pleas.  

‘Though huge numbers are complying – and I thank you all – the time has now come for us all to do more,’ Mr Johnson said.