PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has ordered the people of Teignbridge along with the rest of Britain to stay at home as the coronavirus pandemic grips the nation.

This evening the prime minister announced strict new curbs on life in the UK to tackle the spread of coronavirus. 

From this evening people must stay at home except for shopping for basic necessities, one form of daily exercise, any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person and travelling to and from essential work. 

Shops selling non-essential goods will also be shut and gatherings in public of more than two people who do not live together prohibited.

The UK death toll has reached 335.

If people do not follow the rules police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings, Boris Johnson said in a televised statement from Downing Street.

The prime minister said the measures were necessary to tackle "the biggest threat this country has faced for decades". 

"Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses," he said. 

"And as we have seen elsewhere, in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger.

"To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it - meaning more people are likely to die, not just from coronavirus but from other illnesses as well."

The prime minister said the measures were necessary to tackle "the biggest threat this country has faced for decades". 

"Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses," he said. 

"And as we have seen elsewhere, in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger.

"To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it - meaning more people are likely to die, not just from coronavirus but from other illnesses as well."

The streets of Newton Abbot were virtually deserted today as people heeded the Government’s advice.

Its pubs, restaurants and cafes had already closed from Friday evening.