Coronavirus infection in the island will peak in May if stringent stay at home guidelines are followed.

Health Minister David Ashford presented a graph at this afternoon’s press briefing showing a number of scenarios that have been modelled by his department.

If the virus is not controlled, as has happened in other parts of the world, daily cases could rise to a peak of just under 120 by April 19, as indicated by the blue line on the graph.

But the red line marking the realistic planning assumption by the DHSC shows a peak of about 75 cases a day by May 3 while the orange line illustrates a best case scenario when there is a peak of under 50 cases a day by May 22.

Mr Ashford said these latter two would require everyone to follow stringent guidelines on staying at home and social distancing.

He said the infection curve needed to flattened to prevent the hospital being overwhelmed. ’Stay inside, social distance - let’s hit that orange curve,’ he said.Uncontrolled, the virus outbreak could end by May 21 but with social distancing measures applied, it could last well into June.The Minister said as expected the island was seeing family transmission of the virus. 'What is important is not spreading the virus outside that household,' he said.Mr Ashford said an on-island testing centre could be up and running in a week to a week and a half's time.