Coronavirus HUNT FOR THE crisis SURREY SPREADER

Victim becomes first to be infected in UK

A FRANTIC search is on for a mystery coronavirus spreader in Surrey who passed the killer illness to the country’s 20th victim.

The hunt comes as fears grow there will be many more cases in the UK.

NHS bosses say a tenth of Britons could be hospitalised by the virus.

Since the Surrey case three more victims have been identified in the UK – one in Gloucestershire, one in Hertfordshire and a third in Berkshire – bringing the total to 23.

Two had recently travelled back from Italy, the other from Asia. The 20th victim is thought to be a man in his 40s who went to Haslemere Health Centre before being transferred to hospital.

He is the first victim to contract the illness from another person in the UK. Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed a GP at the centre, now closed, is also showing symptoms.

Schools in the county have been shut after teachers and pupils displayed mild flu-like symptoms.

No-one has died in the UK from the disease so far but a British man in his

70s passed away in Japan, having been quarantined on a cruise liner.

In Liverpool, a guest at the Radisson Blu hotel self-quarantined in their room after falling ill following a Thailand trip.

The virus has hit 59 countries, with more than 2,900 people dead and over

85,000 infected. Yesterday, the first fatality was confirmed in the US, in Washington State.

PM Boris Johnson said stopping a big UK outbreak was his “top priority”.