The UK's health minister Matt Hancock has refused to take any options out of consideration, as 10,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the nation, and a school near London confirmed three cases on Saturday. 

Hancock said measures such as banning large public events (as has been done in France and Italy) and discouraging people from taking public transport would come with "a huge economic and social downside," but he added "we don't take anything off the table at this stage."

Along with his commitment to what he called a "battle plan" for the "worst-case scenario," Hancock also appeared to blame Italian officials for the outbreak in their nation.  

Speaking to the BBC, Hancock said he would "only look at things that epidemiologically, scientifically make sense," but he added that some measures have been taken by other nations may not have been done with the same stringency. 

"People said to me a few weeks ago, 'We should ban all the flights from China,' and the scientists said... people would come [by other means]," Hancock added. 

"There's only one country in Europe that did ban the flights from China, that was Italy... so in a way that's proved what you have to do is take very seriously the scientific advice," the minister continued. 

The UK has now confirmed 35 cases of COVID-19, with more than 1,000 cases confirmed in Italy. 

Previously, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said "Our health system is excellent, our precautionary measures are of the utmost rigor and we trust that, by virtue of the combined provisions."

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