Uni panic as docs treat virus student
UK’s first patients as China death toll rises to 259
A university student is one of the first two people to test positive for coronavirus in the UK.
Senior staff at the University of York opened a call centre amid panic over the possible spread of the infection.
Both those confirmed as having corona virus are members of the same family and were last night being treated at a specialist unit in Newcastle.
They had checked into the Staycity hotel in York on Wednesday and were transferred later that evening.
The development came as the number of confirmed cases in China rose to more than 11,800 and the death toll to 259. The number of tests carried out in Scotland remained at 16, all with negative results.
UK-wide, there have been a further 201 negative tests. The
University of York’s vicechancellor, Professor Charlie Jeffery, said: “I want to reassure our students, staff and the wider community that we’re working closely with the lead agency Public Health England (PHE) and other agencies to manage this situation.”
He added that the university was “very much an international community’” and said: “We’re working with our partners across the city to ensure that York and the university remain a safe and welcoming place to live, work and visit.” A spokeswoman for the university added :“We understand this development will cause concern and anxiety among our students, staff and the wider community.
“PHE has advised us that the risk of infection being passed to others on campus is low. Current information from PHE suggests that the student did not come into contact with anybody on campus whi le they had symptoms – but investigations are ongoing.”
Yesterday, 83 UK citizens evacuated from coronavirushit Wuhan spent their first day back on home soil, albeit in quarantine. Their flight arrived at the RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday.
It is understood they’re being housed near the Wirral because it is a peninsula easily isolated in the event of an outbreak.
Anyone who begins to display symptoms of the virus will be transferred to the specialist infectious diseases unit at Royal Liverpool University Hospital.