Mobile morgue is built in London to help cope with number of bodies from coronavirus deaths as capital is worst-hit

A HUGE mobile mortuary has been swiftly set up in London to cope with the number of bodies from the coronavirus pandemic.

It comes as cases in the UK surged to 2,626 with 104 deaths, as the Prime Minister urged everyone to work from home.

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Westminster Public Mortuary has space for 102 bodies, but the expanded tent set up will see this almost doubled - as London becomes the worst hit.

Today builders were seen at the site behind Westminster Coroners' Court readying for a jump in expected victims.

A Westminster council worker at the site today, said the refrigerated racked tent would double the council's capacity.

He also said councils were building similar tents to expand capacity as much as possible in the pandemic.

Adding: "The tent will be up today and will be ready by the weekend.

"We hopefully won't ever need them. But you saw the numbers of what could happen, so we need to be prepared."

A Westminster City Council spokesperson added: "We have plans in place to increase the capacity of our mortuary at Horseferry Road as part of a London wide response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

"This is a precautionary step and similar arrangements are made during any London wide response to incidents. We hope and trust that this will not be needed but it is sensible to prepare at this stage."

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London is braced to enter a lockdown within days - with extra travel restrictions for Brits in the capital.

Sources close to City Hall say the Government is preparing a fresh bill to give them the power to stop gatherings, and keep Londoners inside.

The over 70s, those who are pregnant, and anyone with underlying health conditions (around 20million Brits) should try not to leave their homes if they can, and avoid crowded spaces immediately.

This will continue for the “long haul” – likely weeks or months.

And those with severe illnesses like cancer (around 1.4million Brits) must start cocooning themselves in their homes and get food delivered in from this weekend.

Earlier this week Boris Johnson said: "Clearly what we’re announcing today is a very substantial change in the way we want people to live their lives, and I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime.

"I don’t think there’s really been anything like it in peacetime.

"It’s a very considerable, psychological, behavioural change that we’re asking you, we’re asking the public, the nation to do.

"But I’ve absolutely no doubt that we can do it, that we can do it together."

A team from Imperial College London, led by Professor Neil Ferguson, said the new tighter controls could limit deaths to around 20,000 - with the leading professor admitting the best case scenario would still see tens of thousands die.

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The country could be stuck in a state of "permanent outbreak" and lockdown until a vaccine is found - which is at least a year away - experts warned.

Professor Ferguson, director of the MRC centre at Imperial, said yesterday the UK is three weeks behind Italy, warning there was "no time to lose" as the NHS will be "overwhelmed many times over" in the fight against COVID-19.

He added the government got the timing of the lockdown "just about right" as it became unavoidable to no longer take stronger action.

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