The government will not be closing schools in the UK as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the decision may change as the disease spreads, the prime minister has said.

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Speaking after today’s Cobra meeting, Boris Johnson also said that the government is advising against school trips abroad.

“This is the worst public health crisis for a generation,” he said. “Many more families are going to lose their loved ones before their time.

“We advise against international school trips. Schools should only close if they are specifically advised to do so and that remains our advice.”

He added: “We are, I repeat, not closing schools now - the scientific advice is that this could do more harm than good.”

Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer, said: “One reason to close schools is if it’s going to have a big impact on the epidemic. A second reason is if children are particularly affected by a virus or some other infection.”

“Fortunately - and this is one silver lining if you wish, in this particular infection - it looks as if children are infected much less than adults, based on the early data we have at the moment.”

“Our view is not that they don’t get infected - we think they probably do - but they seem to have a much milder disease in general. So the second possible reason to close schools does not appear to be there.”

“And of course, closing schools has big knock on effects across all of society - so has to be justified by very strong reasons, either for the protection of children, or for the impact on the epidemic. In the absence of those, the evidence for doing this is quite weak.”