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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Suspected Manchester Mers cases prove negative | Suspected Manchester Mers cases prove negative |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A suspected outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) which temporarily shut a hospital's A&E unit was a false alarm. | |
| Two patients who were thought to have the Mers condition at Manchester Royal Infirmary have tested negative. | |
| They were isolated for treatment and the hospital said there was "no significant risk to public health". | They were isolated for treatment and the hospital said there was "no significant risk to public health". |
| Mers is passed to people in close contact and is similar to the Sars virus. | Mers is passed to people in close contact and is similar to the Sars virus. |
| Patients who would usually travel to the Manchester Royal Infirmary were diverted to hospitals in South Manchester and Salford and the North Manchester General Hospital. | Patients who would usually travel to the Manchester Royal Infirmary were diverted to hospitals in South Manchester and Salford and the North Manchester General Hospital. |
| The Manchester Royal said its children's A&E department remained open throughout. | The Manchester Royal said its children's A&E department remained open throughout. |
| 'Very low risk' | |
| North West Deputy Director of Health Protection for Public Health England (PHE), Dr Rosemary McCann, said: "PHE can confirm that two individuals were tested for MERS-CoV in Manchester. | |
| "These cases were separate and unrelated. The results of both tests were negative." | |
| PHE said there have been 316 tests for Mers across the UK since 2013, but all have come back, negative. | |
| Mers is a viral respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus (Mers-CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. | |
| Last month the World Health Organisation said 1,333 cases had been confirmed across the world and approximately 36% of infected patients had died. | |
| Although the source of Mers-CoV is currently unknown, there is growing evidence of the possible role of camels in transmitting the virus to humans. | |
| The last person to be diagnosed in the UK with the potentially deadly virus was in February 2013, despite a recent rise in cases in the Middle East and outbreaks in South Korea and China. | |
| No vaccine | |
| "Although cases continue to be reported from the Middle East, no new cases of Mers-CoV have been detected in the UK since February 2013," Dr McCann said. | |
| She added: "There is presently no evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission of Mers-CoV, and the risk of contracting infection in the UK remains very low. | |
| "The risk to UK residents travelling to Middle Eastern countries may be slightly higher than within the UK, but is still very low. | |
| Dr Derek Gatherer, a lecturer at the University of Lancaster, said: "Outside hospitals the risk to the general public is extremely low and the outbreak ought not to cause concern. | |
| "There is no treatment for Mers other than a general symptomatic support for pneumonia, perhaps involving steroid drugs to widen airways and assist breathing. There is no vaccine at present." |