Fourth case of coronavirus in UK confirmed
■ Group evacuated from Chinese city will be quarantined ■ Five Britons test positive for virus in France
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, the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, said.
The new case comes after another plane carrying British citizens evacuated from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan landed in Oxfordshire.
The flight, with more than 200 people on board, including some foreign nationals, arrived at RAF Brize Norton shortly before 7.30am yesterday.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was the second and final flight to be chartered by the Government and had British government staff and military medics on board.
As the death toll in China from the virus rose to 811, Prof Whitty said: “A further patient has tested positive for novel coronavirus in England, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to four.
“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 now using robust infection control measures to prevent any possible further spread of the virus.
“The NHS is extremely wellprepared 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
The NHS is extremely well-prepared to manage these cases.
The Chief Medical Officer for England , Professor Chris Whitty.
going to A&E. For the latest advice visit gov.uk/coronavirus.”
The latest confirmed case comes not long after five Britons tested positive for coronavirus in France.
The four adults and a nineyear-old child were diagnosed after they came into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore, the French health ministry said.
The five British nationals, 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.
The five Britons whose diagnosis was confirmed, as well as six compatriots with whom they had close contact, were taken to hospitals on Friday night in Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble.
The chalet where they were staying housed a British family who live in Contamines and another British family who were on holiday. The ill child lives in Contamines and attends a local school, and took French classes at another local school, regional officials told a news conference on Saturday.
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 middleaged British man and is understood to be the first UK national to contract the disease.
He is thought to have been diagnosed in Brighton and was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London.