LONDON - Britain unveils its first post-Brexit budget on Wednesday, with all eyes on emergency government measures to ease the economic pain from the coronavirus outbreak.
It comes the day after a minister in the health department, Nadine Dorries, tested positive for COVID-19, raising concern about whether she has spread the infection.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak will present the budget in parliament around 1230 GMT, after his predecessor Sajid Javid resigned unexpectedly last month.
The new chancellor of the exchequer's annual tax and spend plans -- the first since Britain departed the European Union on January 31 -- are set to be affected by rushed-through announcements regarding the new coronavirus.
"We're looking at what the impact (of the virus) might be, whether it's on businesses... on our public services, and in all cases, on Wednesday, you will hear from me the various options and policies that we can put in place to provide that vital support," Sunak said on the eve of the budget.
Sunak, 39, said he was ready to give the state-run National Health Service whatever it needed to help combat the outbreak, while precise measures were expected to be detailed in the budget.
On the eve of Brexit, the Bank of England cut its British growth forecasts for this year and next.
Recent official data showed that UK growth slowed to zero in the final quarter of last year as manufacturing shrank. (AFP)