Two people from the same family have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, the chief medical officer for England has announced.
They were guests at the Staycity apartment-hotel in York, before being taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
The hotel remains open for business but their apartment will be thoroughly disinfected, the company said.
A flight carrying 83 Britons from Wuhan in China has landed in the UK.
They are being taken to a hospital in Wirral and quarantined for 14 days.
The new coronavirus has caused the deaths of 213 people so far – all in China.
Cases of the virus have reached nearly 10,000 in China – and more than 100 cases have been reported in 22 other countries.
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Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said the NHS was “extremely well-prepared for managing infections” and it was quickly trying to identify any contacts the two patients had to prevent further spread.
He said they could not be identified because of patient confidentiality.
They were moved from their York apartment-hotel to be treated initially at Castle Hill Hospital in Hull, before being taken to the infectious diseases unit in Newcastle.
Public Health England said there was minimal risk of infection to either guests or staff at the Staycity property in York.
‘High chance of getting better’
Prof Whitty said the specialist unit at the Newcastle hospital was experienced in treating people with infectious diseases and there was “a high chance people would get better”, based on current information.
“A lot of people will end up with a relatively minor disease,” he said.
The small number who go on to be more seriously ill tend to develop respiratory problems which “will be dealt with as anyone else with a respiratory disease”, Prof Whitty added.
He indicated that efforts would now be made to trace everyone in close contact with the two coronavirus patients so they could be monitored.
Close contacts would be given health advice about symptoms and an emergency number in case they became unwell – but wouldn’t be quarantined, Public Health England said.
Text alert
Some GPs have started sending text messages to patients, telling them to stay away from their local surgery and phone them instead, if they feel unwell and have been to China in the last two weeks.
Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said the possibility of further spread was “minimal” because the cases were caught early.
Virus experts said they were not surprised to see cases in the UK but there was no reason to panic.
“This is still primarily a Chinese emergency as 99% of cases have been in China and all deaths have been in China,” said Prof Devi Sridhar, from the University of Edinburgh.
The WHO declared the outbreak a global emergency on Thursday.
The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has now surpassed that of the Sars epidemic, which spread to more than two dozen countries in 2003.
The mortality rate for the new strain of coronavirus is currently low, at 2% – less than Sars at 10% and Ebola at 70%, the chief medical officer says.
But the death rate could yet go up if more of those in hospital die, or down if it’s discovered there are many other people with mild symptoms.
Flying Britons home
A flight bringing 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals from China to the UK, has landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
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The UK passengers are being taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral and quarantined for two weeks.
The chief medical officer said they would be isolated from the general public, but not in “solitary confinement”.
“We intend them to be housed in a way which is pleasant,” he added.
Prof Whitty said he hoped they would all be able to be released after 14 days without any symptoms at all, but those who did develop symptoms would be treated by the NHS “in a way that’s safe for them and safe for staff and the public”.Skip Twitter post by @WHO
World Health Organization (WHO)✔@WHO
In outbreaks of other #coronaviruses (MERS & SARS), person-to-person transmission occurred through droplets, contact and fomites, suggesting that the transmission mode of the 2019-nCoV can be similar
WHO Situation Report 27 January 2020 http://bit.ly/2U0II9K
1,8168:33 AM – Jan 27, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy1,966 people are talking about thisReport
End of Twitter post by @WHO
Pat Hackett, leader of Wirral Council, said: “All services in the hospital are running as usual including emergency services, outpatients and planned surgery. Staff working in the hospital will not be in contact with these UK citizens.”
bbc