New coronavirus case in Wales confirmed
APATIENT with underlying health conditions has become the first person in the UK to die after testing positive for coronavirus.
The older patient had been “in and out of hospital” for other reasons, but was admitted on Wednesday evening to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and tested positive.
It came as Cardiff’s first case of coronavirus was confirmed, after a patient in the city was diagnosed with Covid-19.
The patient, who has not been named, is the second person in Wales known to have contracted the virus.
The number of UK cases has now exceeded 100 for the first time. Some 116 have tested positive – 105 in England, two in Wales, six in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland.
Wales’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr
MARK SMITH Health correspondent mark.smith@walesonline.co.uk
Frank Atherton, said the latest case in Wales involved a resident “in the Cardiff local authority area” who had recently returned from northern Italy, where the virus was contracted.
The patient was tested at home and is being treated by the Welsh NHS.
Public Health Wales said no other details about the patient will be released.
The health body will now be contacting everyone who was in contact with the patient.
Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “The individual is exhibiting mild symptoms and has been in self-isolation since their return to Wales.
“The patient has been assessed by a specialist infectious disease consultant and is being managed in an appropriate setting, with monitoring on a daily basis.”
At a press conference in Cardiff Bay, Dr Atherton said the prospect of an epidemic is becoming more likely as there is more community transmission taking place in the UK.
He added: “I’d like to take this opportunity to assure the public that Wales and the whole of the UK is wellprepared for these types of incidents. Working with our partners in Wales and the UK, we have implemented our planned response, with robust infection control measures in place to protect the health of the public.”
As of yesterday morning, 18,083 people have been tested in the UK, 500 of whom were tested in Wales. The number of positive cases has increased by 31 since Wednesday.
The first case of coronavirus in Wales was confirmed on February 28 after a patient contracted it following a trip to northern Italy.
The patient, who is from Swansea, remains in isolation at a specialist NHS infection centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
It also emerged that a Cardiff surgery was placed in lockdown after a patient with suspected coronavirus came in for an appointment.
The patient, who had recently travelled from Iran, went to Cyncoed Medical Centre in Pontprennau on March 5 after experiencing “symptoms”.
Currently, Iran has the fourth most confirmed cases of the virus, with 3,513 infected.
David Shand, practice manager at Cyncoed Surgery in Pontprennau, said staff took “immediate” advice from Public Health Wales and that the surgery was given a deep clean. It will be open as usual today. Mr Shand explained: “This morning a patient who called in earlier with symptoms was given an appointment at around 10am.
“Unfortunately it got lost in translation that this patient had recently travelled back from Iran two to three weeks ago.
“When we heard the patient had travelled back from Iran it was a reg flag and we immediately called Public Health Wales for advice.”
Meanwhile, England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said he was “very sorry” to report the news that a patient had died after testing positive for coronavirus, and offered “sincere condolences” to the family.
He added: “The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, was an older patient who had underlying health conditions.
“We believe they contracted the virus in the UK and contact tracing is already under way.”
Last week, the Foreign Office confirmed a British tourist who had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Japan, had died from the virus.
Downing Street yesterday said it is “highly likely” that coronavirus will now spread in a “significant way”.
In other key developments:
■ ITV revealed that travel companies are deferring their TV advertising because of the disease, with advertising revenue due to drop 10% in April;
■ The Grand Princess cruise ship, with around 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew, is being held off the coast of California after a former passenger died from Covid-19;
■ Starbucks said it was “pausing the use of personal cups” and washable ceramic cups for those drinking their beverage in the UK, US and Canadian stores due to coronavirus fears;
■ England’s Six Nations rugby match against Italy on March 14 in Rome has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak; and
■ A statement from HSBC said one of its employees at Canary Wharf had been infected.
Prof Whitty gave evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee, with MPs including former England health secretary Jeremy Hunt.
He said it would be “lucky” to get a vaccine for Covid-19 in the next year, but it would “not get us out of a hole now”, although other treatments may work.
Half of all coronavirus cases in the UK are most likely to occur in just a three-week period, with 95% of them over a nine-week period, he said.
Prof Whitty said he had a “reasonably high degree of confidence” that 1% is at the “upper limit” of the mortality rate for coronavirus, although Wuhan in China, which has a weaker
health system, had seen an 8%-9% mortality rate for those aged 80 and over.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to reassure the public on ITV’s This Morning, saying it would be “business as usual” for the “overwhelming majority” of people in the UK.
“People can see that this country is going to get through this in good shape,” he said.
Symptoms of Covid-19 appear around five days after infection, he said. It then takes up to a week to recover, with the serious illness setting in for some after six days.
Meanwhile, Italy has placed temporary restrictions on visiting relatives in nursing homes and is urging the elderly not to go outside unless absolutely necessary.
The Italian government, which closed schools nationwide to try to contain Covid-19, has opened a campaign to urge ordinary Italians to do their part to limit infections given that Italy’s elderly population risks overwhelming the public health system with virus cases.
Italy, the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe, has the world’s oldest population after Japan.
The elderly are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 virus. The 107 people who have died so far in Italy are all elderly, sick with other complications or both.
In a new decree, the Italian government is limiting access to the elderly in nursing homes to prevent possible contagion.
Italian premier Giuseppe Conte justified the extraordinary measure of closing schools and universities nationwide until March 15 by warning that there might not be enough intensive care units to treat patients if the virus continues its “exponential” spread.
The virus that causes the Covid-19 illness emerged in China late last year has infected 95,000 people in more than 80 countries and caused more than 3,200 deaths.
The vast majority of cases have been in China but Japan has also been badly hit.
It has confirmed 1,030 cases, including 706 from a cruise ship. Twelve deaths have been confirmed in Japan.
Sweeping measures to control the spread of the virus have been taken around the world, including closed schools, travel restrictions, emptied sports stadiums and offices.
As well as Italy, Iran and South Korea also have burgeoning outbreaks.
Iran reported 92 deaths among its more than 2,900 cases, though many fear the outbreak is far bigger. Among the ill are dozens of members of the government. The Islamic republic has cancelled Friday prayers for the second week to avoid public gatherings.
South Korea reported 145 new infections yesterday, raising its total to 5,766, the second-highest in the world.
China reported 139 new cases and 31 deaths, raising its totals to 80,409 cases and 3,012 deaths. The number of cases was higher than Wednesday’s figure, but new deaths were lower, as the illness continues to decline in the country.
While hardest-hit Hubei province had most of the new cases and deaths, hospitals there released another 1,923 patients who were declared cured.