Fourth coronavirus patient in UK and 200 in quarantine as jet returns
ANOTHER person has tested positive for coronavirus in England, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to four.
The latest patient diagnosed had come into contact with a previously confirmed UK case and is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London, chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said yesterday.
The new case comes after another plane carrying British citizens evacuated from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan landed in Oxfordshire.
The flight, with 200 people on board, including some foreign nationals, arrived at RAF Brize Norton shortly before 7.30am yesterday.
The passengers on the charter flight were taken to the Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where they will be quarantined for 14 days.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the repatriation flight had brought back 105 British nationals and family members, as well as 95 European nationals and family members.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was the second and final flight to be chartered by the Government and had UK Government staff and military medics on board.
Mr Whitty said: “A further patient has tested positive for novel coronavirus in England.
“The new case is a known contact of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France.
“Experts at Public Health England continue to work hard tracing patient contacts from the UK cases. They successfully identified this individual and ensured the appropriate support was provided.
“The patient has been transferred to a specialist NHS centre at the Royal Free Hospital, and we are using robust infection control measures to prevent any possible further spread of the virus.
“The NHS is extremely well prepared to manage these cases and treat them, and we are working quickly to identify any further contacts the patient has had.
“This patient followed NHS advice by self-isolating rather than going to A&E.”
Mr Whitty said people looking for the latest advice should check the website: gov.uk/coronavirus
Meanwhile, a British man in Wuhan has said he was denied access to the last Government-chartered flight back to the UK after failing a temperature check because he was wearing two jackets.
Josh Skarratts said he had worn a hoodie and a jacket to try and comply with hand luggage weight requirements and in preparation for cold weather in the UK.
But when his temperature was taken from underneath his armpits, the reading of 37.5C (99.5F) was deemed too high by officials in the Chinese city.
“It’s quite a difficult pill to swallow when you know the exact reason why you weren’t allowed on the plane could have been avoided,” he told Sky News.
As of 2pm yesterday, the Department of Health said a total of 795 tests were concluded in the UK, with four testing positive and 791 confirmed negative.
The latest confirmed case comes not long after five Britons tested positive for coronavirus in France.
The four adults and a nine-year-old child were diagnosed after they came into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore, the French health ministry said.
Hospital staff wait as coronavirus evacuees arrive after being repatriated
The five, who are not in a serious condition, were staying in the Alpine resort area of Contamines-montjoie near Mont Blanc.
French officials said the British national who was in Singapore returned on January 24 and stayed for four days in the area in eastern France, before returning to England on January 28.
It is understood the third case confirmed in the UK is a man who caught the illness in Singapore.
He is reported to be a middle-aged Briton and is understood to be the first UK national to contract the disease.
Two other patients who had recently travelled from China are being treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary infectious diseases centre in Newcastle.
One is a student at the University of York, while the other is a family member.
The death toll in China from the coronavirus, which has killed at least 813 people, surpasses Sars fatalities in the 2002-2003 outbreak.
The fourth UK case was confirmed not long after a British man in Majorca tested positive for coronavirus. His wife and two daughters tested negative, the government in the Balearic Islands said.
We are now using robust measures to prevent any possible further spread