The island’s preparation for a SARS outbreak has assisted with planning for the inevitable cases of the coronavirus.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said that while SARS never reached the island, procedures were prepared in case of an outbreak.

Mr Quayle said: ’While SARS didn’t reach the Isle of Man, the island had to prepare and we are now able to revisit those plans and make them relevant to the coronavirus.’

The plans include creating an isolation area for patients, training staff in preparation for an outbreak and awareness sessions on the spread of the virus.

Mr Quayle added: ’Obviously, given the spread in the UK, I think it is probably inevitable that at some stage it is going to come to the Isle of Man and we’ve got to be prepared for that.

’We’ve got a plan in place and our public health team on the island is having regular correspondence with the Chief Medical Officer’s office in the UK.’ The island’s risk from coronavirus is listed as medium, however the risk to people is considered low.

Mr Quayle said that until coronavirus arrives in the island, it is ’too early to say’ what action may be taken.

In the UK, some schools have closed when pupils have been diagnosed with the virus.

He added: ’We will have to put in place plans to close a school down if there is a big outbreak in a cluster which they’ve had to do in Italy.

’But I think that would be a last resort.’

’I can’t say no or never to anything at the moment so it is a case of ensuring we are well prepared and we act quickly to it by putting in place the right procedures.’

As the island has not yet confirmed an outbreak of corona, Mr Quayle said that it is benefiting from being able to observe best practice across the British Isles and create a system that will work best for the island.