WELSH PATIENTS BEING TESTED FOR CORONAVIRUS:
PATIENTS are being tested for possible cases of coronavirus in Wales, it has been confirmed. In a statement yesterday, a Public Health Wales spokesman confirmed a small number of patients were being tested but said there were “currently no confirmed cases” of the disease in Wales.
Dr Giri Shankar, professional lead consultant for health protection at Public Health Wales, said: “We are not disclosing the number of individuals tested in Wales because they are so low they run the risk of being patient-identifiable.
“There are currently no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in Wales.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said they wouldn’t be issuing a statement, despite authorities confirming patients were being tested.
Chinese New Year celebrations in Wales have been postponed as coronavirus continues to spread.
Celebrations set to take place at Bangor’s Pontie centre and the Swansea Grand Theatre, this weekend, were postponed.
The outbreak is believed to have started in Wuhan, which has strong ties to Swansea University and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
The Chinese in Wales Association, said: “In honour of those affected by the coronavirus outbreak in China and around the world, we have reached the decision to postpone the open day this Sunday until a later date.”
Two patients in England have tested positive for coronavirus, Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed.
On Friday, Chris Witty, chief medical officer for Public Health England, said in a statement: “We can confirm that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus.
“The patients are receiving specialist NHS care, and we are using tried and test infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus.”
One of the two individuals is a student at the University of York, a university spokesman said.
The student and another member of their family are being treated at a specialist unit in Newcastle.
They had been staying at Staycity apartment-hotel in York and were taken to hospital on Wednesday evening.
The university spokesman said PHE has advised university officials that the risk of infection being passed on campus is “low”.
He added: “We are monitoring the situation closely and we continue to provide as much advice, care and support as we can to our university community.”
Meanwhile, the University of Derby confirmed “a very small number” of students who came back from Wuhan before travel restrictions were put in place were self-isolating for 14 days. A spokeswoman said all the students were fit and well.
And 83 British nationals evacuated from Wuhan have spent their first night of two weeks in quarantine, having arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral in a convoy of six coaches on Friday evening.
Cardiff lecturer Dr Yvonne Griffiths, who was stranded in the country after her flight home on Monday was cancelled, was due to be on the plane.
The evacuees have been supplied with food, and laundry facilities, and have access to the internet and a team of medical staff who will closely monitor their conditions.
In another development yesterday the Foreign Office announced it is withdrawing some staff from China.
It said essential staff will remain to continue “critical work” but warned that its ability to provide help to Britons in the country may be “limited”.
The British Consulate-General in Wuhan was also closed on Friday after the evacuation flight.
UK ministers have said the Government will send another plane to Wuhan to rescue British citizens if needed and the PA news agency understands that the Foreign Office (FCO) is working with EU countries to add British passengers to any rescue flights they may charter back from the city.
A total of 201 tests for coronavirus in the UK have been confirmed negative, the Department of Health said in the latest figures released on Saturday afternoon.
The death toll in China from the virus had risen to 259, with the number of known cases rising from 9,962 to 11,791, officials in the country said.
No deaths have occurred outside China, although cases have been confirmed across at least 23 countries. Coronavirus presents with flulike symptoms including a fever, a cough, or difficulty breathing. The current evidence is that most cases appear to be mild.