Four new patients in England have been confirmed to have caught the deadly Corona virus overnight bringing to eight the number of people in the UK who now have the disease.
The chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said that the four new patients were all contacts of a businessman who was diagnosed in Brighton last week and who contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore. On his way back to the UK, the businessman visited a chalet in a ski region of France, where he met the other Britons who have been taken ill.
The new patients – along with the man who caught the virus in Singapore – are all being treated at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and The Royal Free hospitals in London.
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In a statement, Prof Whitty said:
‘Four further patients in England have tested positive for novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to eight. ‘The new cases are all known contacts of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France.
‘Experts at Public Health England continue to work hard tracing patient contacts from the UK cases. They successfully identified these individuals and ensured the appropriate support was provided.
‘The patients have been transferred to specialist NHS centres at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and The Royal Free hospitals, and we are now using robust infection control measures to prevent further spread of the virus. ‘The NHS is extremely well prepared to manage these cases and treat them, and we are working quickly to identify any further contacts these patients have had.’
This follows the declaration by Uk’s health secretary Matt Hancock that the spread of coronavirus a ‘serious and imminent threat’ to the British public.
Against this backdrop, he released new powers for the government to fight the spread of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China. These include powers to forcibly keep individuals suspected of having coronavirus in ‘supported isolation for their own safety’ after one of the British nationals being kept in quarantine on the Wirral attempted to leave.
