The UK will pare down its train services across the country starting Monday, as passengers are urged to stop all non-essential travel to slow the spread of novel coronavirus.

With the aim of keeping core services running, ministers and rail operators across England, Scotland and Wales have agreed to make progressive cuts to timetable, which also reflects a drop of almost 70 percent in passenger numbers since the COVID-19 outbreak started, the London-based newspaper The Guardian reported.

The government and industry also made a decision to enable rail freight services to run effectively.

In London, a reduced subway service is already in place with the closure of 40 stations and axing of the Night Tube operations.

"We are taking decisive actions to protect the public which means reducing travel for the time being, whilst still ensuring key worker heroes can get to their jobs to keep this nation running," said the British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

Meanwhile, Eurostar is running just three returns daily on its main route from London's St. Pancras International to Paris, the newspaper said.

As of 9 a.m. (0900GMT) on Saturday, 5,018 cases were confirmed positive of COVID-19 in Britain with 233 deaths.