New emergency laws enabling people to leave their jobs to volunteer to care for people for up to four weeks are being planned by the Government in response to a possible wider spread of the coronavirus.

People with skills, qualifications or experience in healthcare would have their jobs safeguarded while they volunteered in healthcare settings.

Courts could also hear cases by video link as part of the temporary changes to rules.

The news comes as the second positive test result for Covid-19 has been reported in Cornwall, thought to be a direct contact of the first case, a person who had returned from Italy.

Meanwhile, police in Cornwall are warning people to be on their guard for online scammers taking advantage of coronavirus fears. Since February in the UK, more than £800,000 has been lost to cases of ’coronavirus fraud’, says the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. While some of the reports concern people paying money online for face masks that are never delivered, others relate to scam emails containing malicious attachments or asking people for sensitive personal information.