UK: Coronavirus cases rise to 273

LONDON

The number of coronavirus cases in the U.K. has risen to 273 with the biggest jump in a day on Sunday, health authorities said.

The Department of Health said more than 23,000 people were tested so far with a student at Oxford University among the 67 new cases.

Public health hotline traffic shot up by more than a third with 120,000 additional calls in the first week of March, added the department.

Two people have died of the COVID-19 in the U.K., according to official figures.

The British government is expected to announce an emergency action plan next week in the face of the growing number of diagnoses and rising mortality rate.

It is expected to allow officials to take further, more radical, action against the spread of the strain in the country.

"I can say absolutely categorically the NHS will get whatever resources it needs to get us through this and to respond to the health crisis," Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak told a BBC program on Sunday.

Meanwhile, people have continued stockpiling goods, prompting big supermarkets including Tesco group to ration essential food and household items.

First detected in Wuhan, China in December, the disease, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to more than 80 countries.

The global death toll is nearly 3,500, and over 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As part of efforts to contain the outbreak, governments have closed borders and suspended land and air travel with the worst-hit countries.

After declaring the outbreak an international health emergency in January, last month the WHO updated the global risk level to "very high."