Boris Johnson believes the UK could "turn the tide" of the coronavirus pandemic in the next 12 weeks in today's daily conference. 

The Prime Minister was joined by Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty at the daily conference emphasising that "testing is crucial to our success in beating this virus". 

The introduction of antibody tests have been discussed as Boris askes that "retailers continue to be reasonable" to make the tests available to all. 

The test is said to work similarly to a pregnancy test to check if the body is or has already fought the Covid-19 virus. 

The Prime Minister added: "The testing for the virus is a pretty standard technology. If the antibody test is reliable and works, then that's a relatively easy thing to scale up."

In response to the virus itself, Chris Whitty said: "The great majority of people who get this virus, irrespective of age, will recover and have a mild or moderate illness, not requiring hospitalisation.

"It is also true that particular groups of older or medically vulnerable people get this more severly. That is not to say there will not be severe cases amongst younger adults.

He added: "We ask people to take this seriously for yourself as well as other people and the NHS."

Boris Johnson was also questioned on his "extra measures" following lock down reports on London which could include 'tougher' measures to enforce self-isolation across the country. 

He stressed that the public follow advice from Public Health England about social distancing, noting that if this spreads further in the capital then further action will be taken to restrict the public's activity. 

The Prime Minister added: "There is some evident that in some parts of the capital it's very patchy and some areas where people aren't following [the advice] quite in the way we want them to.

"The more disciplined we can be, the greater the chances the scientific community can come up with solutions."