NOW KILLER VIRUS
...as hunt is on in UK for 2,000 who flew in from Wuhan in last 2 weeks
THE deadly coronavirus had reached Europe last night as France declared its first cases.
Two patients tested positive for the illness with one hospitalised in Paris and the other in Bordeaux.
It came as health officials in the UK desperately attempted to trace 2,000 people who have flown to Britain from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.
Border Force staff have been drafted in to track down the visitors, who arrived from Wuhan in the fortnight before direct flights stopped on Wednesday.
While 14 people across the UK have been tested and given the all-clear, between ten and 20 people were last night still awaiting results, a source said. Airlines were also helping trace passengers, as the NHS put doctors at four specialised infection units on standby for the first confirmed case of the coronavirus. As the crisis escalated last night:
Health Secretary Matt Hancock hosted a meeting of the Government’s emergency Cobra committee, as pressure grew on ministers to ramp up their response;
Thirteen Chinese cities were in lockdown, covering more than 36million of the population;
The death toll hit 26 and global cases rose past 900 – with the virus also confirmed in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the US, Vietnam and Nepal;
Teams of doctors were posted at Heathrow to spot and treat sickly patients;
Boarding schools were warned that thousands of Chinese pupils could be stranded in the UK.
Discussing the outbreak in France, the country’s health minister Agnes Buzyn said these were the first two cases in Europe, adding it was likely other cases would arise.
The Bordeaux patient, a 48-yearold man, passed through Wuhan before travelling to France on Wednesday, the minister said.
He had reportedly been in contact with about ten people before he was taken into care, the minister said. French authorities are seeking to contact them.
Hospitals in Liverpool, Newcastle and two in London – the Royal Free and Guy’s And St Thomas’ – have readied their ‘ high consequence infectious disease’ treatment centres to receive patients. The hospitals are each equipped with hightech isolation units and staffed by separate teams who specialise in treating adults and children.
Officials admitted it would be almost impossible to stop the virus arriving in the UK because of a two- week incubation period – meaning someone could arrive from China showing no symptoms, before later falling ill.
Public Health England said: ‘No system of checks can claim to offer absolute protection because of the incubation period of the virus.’ England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said there was a ‘fair chance’ Britain would see cases emerge – and stressed that tackling the virus would be a ‘marathon not a sprint’.
Last night a study of the first 41 cases in Wuhan, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed two thirds of them were among otherwise-healthy people – suggesting anyone could be at risk.
Worryingly, even those who did not show symptoms were able to carry and transmit the disease, the study showed. Fears of a possible pandemic also sparked a stampede for protective face masks across Britain, with one Scottish pharmacy selling an unprecedented 2,000 in one day.
Before all flights were cancelled out of Wuhan on Wednesday night there were three direct journeys to Heathrow each week.
Professor Whitty said: ‘The risk to the UK remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage.’ Ministers yesterday ordered search parties to track down the estimated 2,000 people who have flown to the UK from Wuhan in the last fortnight.
They will then be contacted and quizzed about their health. If any show signs of the virus they will then be asked to undergo immediate testing.
Paul Cosford, medical director of Public Health England, said cases in Britain were ‘highly likely’ as he urged people who feel ill after returning from Wuhan to ‘get in touch quickly’.
Officials said people feeling ill should call, rather than visit, their GP for fear of spreading the virus.