VIRUS PANIC HITS SCHOOLS

++ Pupils and staff sent home all over UK ++ Contagion strikes across Europe ++ Britons warned: Avoid north Italy

PUPILS and teachers at 18 schools were sent home yesterday amid fears they have picked up coronavirus on ski trips to Italy.

The drastic step was taken as the deadly disease increased its foothold across Europe. Austria, Switzerland, mainland Spain and Croatia confirmed their first cases and fresh outbreaks were reported around Milan and Venice.

The Foreign Office is now urging Britons to avoid all but essential travel to 11 affected towns in northern Italy while those returning from the region are being told to ‘selfisolate’ if they feel unwell.

As UK officials revealed they were considering closing schools and transport networks in the event of a global pandemic:

■ Nearly £100billion has been wiped off the FTSE 100 in two days;

■ A hotel in Tenerife with hundreds of guests including Britons was in lockdown;

■ The Government is stockpiling drugs for malaria and HIV in the hope they can also treat coronavirus;

■ NHS patients with severe chest infections will automatically be tested for the virus even if they haven’t visited an at-risk country;

■ The Six Nations match between Ireland and Italy next Saturday could be called off;

■ A senior US official warned that it was a

question of when, not if, the virus reaches America.

One Whitehall source said: ‘We are doing everything that can be done. But there is a sense that we may be at a tipping point where this is going to dominate everything.’

Among the 18 affected schools were Trinity Catholic College in Middlesbrough and the Cransley School in Cheshire which have both closed temporarily for a deep-clean and the Brine Leas Academy, also in Cheshire, which shut its sixth form.

Another 15 schools had already sent pupils and staff home to self-isolate if they had been on ski trips to northern Italy in the past two weeks.

They include private and state schools in areas including Dagenham in east London, Somerset, Cornwall, West Yorkshire, Pembrokeshire and County Antrim.

The Foreign Office stopped short of advising Britons to avoid all of northern Italy even though Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested he wouldn’t be flying there.

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, suggested vulnerable groups should think twice about going to Italy.

He said: ‘Inevitably some people will take a judgment, particularly if someone has an underlying health condition. If they are older or had other reasons to be more concerned about their health they might want to think about this.

‘But we’re not recommending changing travel advice for Italy at this point in time.

‘There are plenty of reasons people might wish to go to Italy where that balance of risk and benefit is nothing.’

The no- go areas include Codogno, Somaglia, Bertonico, San Fiorano and Vo’ Euganeo although a Foreign Office spokesman said they were rarely visited by British places tourists.

Department of Health officials are preparing a coronavirus pandemic plan that will be deployed if the number of cases suddenly escalates.

Irish health minister Simon Harris said the rugby clash between his country and Italy in Dublin next Saturday should be cancelled.

The Irish rugby authorities are yet to make a final decision but Mr Harris said: ‘The very clear view of the public health emergency team was that this game should not go ahead and that it would constitute a significant risk, because a very large number of people will be travelling from what is now an affected region.’ Should the game be called off, it would set a precedent for other major sporting events.

Among the other schools taking precautions following ski trips to northern Italy is the Salendine Nook secondary school in Huddersfield.

Up to 19 children and four staff have been told to stay away until March 9 after returning from their holiday three days ago. The Sandbach High School in Cheshire has posted a message on its website that reads: ‘Students and staff who went on the school ski trip during half term to Aprica (northern Italy, Lombardy region) are to stay indoors, self-isolate, ring 111 to get further information.’

The head of Iran’s virus task force tested positive for the illness yesterday, just a day after a news conference in which he tried to play down the danger posed by the outbreak. Iraj Harichi’s diagnosis came amid a dramatic surge in cases in the country.

Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow has announced he is in precautionary self-isolation after travelling to Iran to cover the country’s election.