Two new UK coronavirus cases confirmed to bring total to 15
Two more British patients have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising the total number of UK coronavirus cases to 15.
The new patients did not pick up the coronavirus in China but it was passed onto them in Italy and Tenerife.
They are now being treated at the NHS’ specialist infection centres in Royal Liverpool Hospital and London’s Royal Free Hospital.
It came after health secretary Matt Hancock told Brits to expect more UK coronavirus cases yesterday.
He outlined a four-part plan to respond to the outbreak that will see the government seek to “contain, delay, research and mitigate”.
British tourists were quarantined in Tenerife where they must stay in isolation for two weeks after a hotel guest tested positive for the coronavirus.
It comes amid a spike in cases outside China. South Korea’s number of coronavirus cases shot up again today to 1,595. And the Covid-19 outbreak has now reached 44 countries including the US, where President Donald Trump has put vice-president Mike Pence in charge of a taskforce to curb the rise in cases.
A Derbyshire school has also closed after a parent contracted the coronavirus, according to reports. But the Department for Health did not initially confirm the case.
Four Brits on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan and who the government evacuated back to Britain tested positive for coronavirus, the Department for Health confirmed last weekend.
A so-called superspreader, a Brighton man called Steve Walsh, passed the virus on to 11 other people before recovering from the illness.
Four Brits contracted the Covid-19 virus from him at a French Alps ski chalet. They are being treated at Guy’s St Thomas’ infectious disease unit and a similar unit at the Royal Free.
The risk to the UK has been raised from low to moderate but the risk to individual Brits remains low, the UK chief medical officers have said.
As of yesterday, 7,132 people have been tested in the UK, with 7,119 returning negative results and 13 positive results.
It came as more new coronavirus cases emerged outside China than inside China for the first time.
World Health Organization director-general Tdros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said new cases were piling up outside China.
South Korea now counts 1,595 coronavirus cases, with Italy numbering 453 and Iran’s total at 141. He called the sudden rise “deeply concerning”.
The WHO noted new cases in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman were all linked to Iran.
Cases in Switzerland, Croatia, Spain, Algeria, Germany and Austria were linked to Italy’s outbreak.
More to follow.