UK calls new coronavirus ‘serious and imminent threat’

LONDON: The British government on Monday warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a “serious and imminent threat” and announced new measures to protect the public.

Two hospitals have been designated as “isolation” facilities – both are currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.

Anyone with the virus can now be forcibly quarantined and sent into isolation if they are deemed to pose a public health threat.

Britain has four confirmed cases of the virus, including one man who fell ill after going to a conference in Singapore. He was being treated as a specialist infectious diseases unit in London.

Two evacuation flights have returned British nationals from Wuhan and returnees have been taken into quarantine for two weeks.