Last checked at 
* FTSE 100 down 7.7%, biggest drop since 2008
* UK government says food supplies will continue
* UK coronavirus cases rises to 319, 5 dead
* EasyJet, BA set to reduce northern Italy flights
(Adds PM Johnson, updates stock markets)
By Kylie MacLellan and William James
LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Coronavirus fears pushed British
stocks to an almost four-year low on Monday but the government
said it was not yet time to close mass events and insisted food
supplies would continue.
As the worries about the economic impact of the outbreak
battered global markets, Britain announced its fourth and fifth
deaths from the virus and said that it now had 319 confirmed
cases, up from 273 on Sunday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson held an emergency government
meeting to discuss when to bring in more stringent measures,
though the government said it was not yet advising the closure
of large events. Food supplies, it said, would continue.
"We remain in the contain phase of the outbreak but ... our
scientists think containment is extremely unlikely to work on
its own and that is why we are making extensive preparations for
a move to the delay phase," Johnson said at a news conference.
"Whatever is happening in other countries, whatever measures
are being urged upon us, be in no doubt we are considering
absolutely all of them and in due time they may of course become
necessary but ... timing is crucial."
The new coronavirus, which emerged in China in December,
causes a disease called COVID-19. It has spread around the
world, infecting more than 110,000 people and 3,800 people have
died worldwide, according to a Reuters tally.
The FTSE 100 plunged to an almost four-year low as a
crash in oil prices driven by a price war between Saudi Arabia
and Russia stoked global recession fears, with investors alarmed
about the economic fallout of coronavirus.
Yields on some benchmark British government bonds went
negative for the first time as panicked investors dumped shares
and rushed to the safety of gilts to hedge against the feared
economic shock of the coronavirus.
Early in the day the two-year gilt yield sank as
low as -0.035%, down 13 basis points on the day, while benchmark
10-year yields hit a record-low 0.074% before rising off this
low later in the day.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Speaking alongside Johnson on Monday, England's Chief
Medical Officer Chris Whitty said he was expecting numbers to
"increase initially slowly but then quite fast."
"We are now very close to the time, probably within the next
10-14 days when ... we should move to a situation where we say
everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections or a
fever should be self isolating for 7 days afterwards," he said.
As some British supermarket shelves were emptied of basics
such as lavatory paper, the British government said it had set
up a team to tackle "interference and disinformation" around the
spread of coronavirus.
The country's biggest retailer, Tesco, has restricted bulk
buying of products such as anti-bacterial gels and wipes, dried
pasta and long-life milk.
Health minister Matt Hancock told parliament he was
"confident that food supply will continue even in our reasonable
worst case scenario". The government later announced it would
extend the hours that deliveries can be made to supermarkets to
allow them to replenish their shelves more quickly.
Britain's finance minister is due to deliver his annual
budget speech on Wednesday and investors are awaiting any
indication of additional stimulus from the Bank of England and
the government.
UK-based airlines easyJet and British Airways
are expected to reduce their flights to northern Italy
over the next three-and-a-half weeks after Italian authorities
ordered a virtual lockdown of the area.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Andy Bruce, David
Milliken, Sarah Young and Michael Holden; Writing by Guy
Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden/Keith Weir/William
Maclean)
