A statement from Public Health England reads: Our general advice is not to close schools.' What we are clear about is if you have been in the area of northern Italy of concern and you have symptoms it is a cough, shortness of breath or fever then you do need to self-isolate, you need to phone NHS 111 and await advice for further assessment or testing'.One primary school in Essex is closed as a precaution today because a teacher was in Italy over half term, but it wasn't reported if she has been diagnosed with the virus or not. England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said schools could be shut en masse if coronavirus gets out of control in Britain. Prof Whitty said: 'There's no secret there's a variety of things you need to look at, you look at things like school closures, you look at things like reducing transport.' Italy is one of the countries in the World struggling to contain the spread of coronavirus with 11 dead and 322 confirmed sick. According to Mail Online, a 'worst case' Government report have predicted that 80 per cent of Britons could catch the virus and 500,000 may die.