NHS tells potential carrier to go to a walk-in surgery

ONE potential coronavirus carrier was advised by the NHS to take his wife and children to a walk-in GP surgery only days after returning from the centre of Europe’s worst outbreak.

Diego Gullo, a software entrepreneur from Harrow, north-west London, came back to Britain four days ago from Codogno, the first Italian town to be put on complete lockdown.

He had been visiting his mother at the hospital where a 38-year-old man known as “Patient One” is feared to have passed the deadly virus to dozens of patients. Two days after Mr Gullo’s departure, Italian authorities effectively sealed off Codogno.

Concerned that he might be carrying the virus, Mr Gullo, 40, called the NHS 111 phone service for advice. Instead of being called in for testing, however, he was told to “proceed as normal”.

He then called his local GP’S surgery for a second opinion – but was advised to bring his wife and two children to the walk-in surgery the next day.

“That doesn’t seem like a very good idea,” Mr Gullo told The Daily Telegraph last night. “If by any chance I am carrying the disease, I shouldn’t be walking into a room of sick people.

“I would like to see much more urgency, and joined-up advice,” he added.

Mr Gullo was in self-enforced isolation at his home. Meanwhile his wife, who works as a teacher at a local school, and his two young children have been told to stay away from classes.

“My child’s nursery is telling her that she’s not welcome. My son’s middle school is telling him that he shouldn’t come in. And my wife has agreed not to teach until we are confirmed clear.

“But the actual doctors tell us to proceed as normal. I find it quite strange and concerning,” he said.