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| Coronavirus: UK fears of undetected cases grow as 12 more test positive | Coronavirus: UK fears of undetected cases grow as 12 more test positive |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| Second person in Britain tests positive without having recently travelled abroad | Second person in Britain tests positive without having recently travelled abroad |
| A patient in Essex has become the second person in the UK to test positive for coronavirus without having recently travelled abroad, the Department of Health has said. | A patient in Essex has become the second person in the UK to test positive for coronavirus without having recently travelled abroad, the Department of Health has said. |
| The case will fuel concerns that the virus is circulating undetected in parts of Britain, making it harder for authorities to contain the spread of the infection throughout the country. | The case will fuel concerns that the virus is circulating undetected in parts of Britain, making it harder for authorities to contain the spread of the infection throughout the country. |
| The patient is among 12 new cases reported on Sunday by the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, bringing the total number of UK infections to 35. Two cases have previously been reported in Northern Ireland and Wales. | The patient is among 12 new cases reported on Sunday by the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, bringing the total number of UK infections to 35. Two cases have previously been reported in Northern Ireland and Wales. |
| Three of the latest patients were in close contact with a known case and were identified through contact tracing. Of the remaining eight cases, six had recently returned from Italy and two from Iran. All of the patients, from London, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire or Gloucestershire, are now being investigated and their close contacts traced, Whitty said. | |
| Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College, London, said: “It makes it particularly difficult to control any outbreak if there are people who don’t know they’re spreading it. This really adds to the supposition many are now making that this one is going to be very hard to put back in the box. | Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College, London, said: “It makes it particularly difficult to control any outbreak if there are people who don’t know they’re spreading it. This really adds to the supposition many are now making that this one is going to be very hard to put back in the box. |
| “The thing which I would urge every organisation and every business to do is to really start planning, as of now, for how people are going to manage to work remotely and cover each other’s jobs in the event that people have to take time off from work. It’s planning for resilience in the eventuality that the spread is going to continue.” | “The thing which I would urge every organisation and every business to do is to really start planning, as of now, for how people are going to manage to work remotely and cover each other’s jobs in the event that people have to take time off from work. It’s planning for resilience in the eventuality that the spread is going to continue.” |
| The new cases came as health authorities raced to track down people who had come into contact with a 35-year-old man from Shenzhen who had been working in Bristol and tested positive for coronavirus after taking a Cathay Pacific flight from London Heathrow to Hong Kong on Thursday. | |
| A statement from the Guangdong health commission late on Sunday said authorities in Shenzhen had declared an “imported case” of the coronavirus infection after the man tested positive. According to the statement, the patient had travelled to Hong Kong from London on 27 February on Cathay Pacific flight CX250. After landing in Hong Kong he took a ferry to Shekou port and entered mainland China. | |
| While the man’s temperature was normal at the time of his arrival, he developed a cough and fever on 29 February and was driven to hospital where he tested positive for the coronavirus. He is now undergoing treatment in quarantine in a hospital in Shenzhen where his condition is described as “stable”. The Chinese authorities said two of the man’s colleagues in the UK had reported coughs and fever. | While the man’s temperature was normal at the time of his arrival, he developed a cough and fever on 29 February and was driven to hospital where he tested positive for the coronavirus. He is now undergoing treatment in quarantine in a hospital in Shenzhen where his condition is described as “stable”. The Chinese authorities said two of the man’s colleagues in the UK had reported coughs and fever. |
| Chuang Shuk-kwan, director of the infectious disease division of Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection, advised all passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX250 from Heathrow to Hong Kong on Thursday or ferry number 3A109 to call the centre’s hotline and to be “aware of the health situation” and seek medical help or quarantine if necessary. | |
| Will Welfare, interim deputy director of health protection for Public Health England North West, said on Sunday that the agency was contacting people who had close contact with a resident from Bury, Greater Manchester, who became infected while in Italy. “Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed case,” he said. | Will Welfare, interim deputy director of health protection for Public Health England North West, said on Sunday that the agency was contacting people who had close contact with a resident from Bury, Greater Manchester, who became infected while in Italy. “Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed case,” he said. |