Dr Patrick Vallance: 'Epidemic is doubling every seven days'

The government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance says measures must be taken to stop the almost-weekly doubling of coronavirus cases.

Speaking at a press conference alongside England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, he said there are already things in place to slow the virus' growth but "it requires speed, it requires action" to make sure exponential growth doesn't continue.

Sir Patrick warned that the UK could could see 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October without further restrictions.

And he added that "would be expected to lead to about 200 deaths per day" a month after that.