Voluntary police specials maybe paid and diverted from their day jobs if sickness hammers the regular service, the Commons Home Affairs Committee heard. (Image: ITV)Mr Netherton also tried to reassure MPs over new emergency powers to detain suspected coronavirus sufferers who refuse to self-isolate. “They are designed to support Public Health England, they are designed as part of a medical issue, not a general policing issue. She told MPs the centres were locked down because of a suspected outbreak of seasonal flu. “I'm assured by detention services it's not Covid, it is just seasonal flu,” she said.

Source: Daily Mirror March 18, 2020 17:48 UTC