Pupils and staff in virus alert after school trips
PUPILS AND staff at a Wakefield secondary school have been ordered to stay at home amid fears of coronavirus following a school trip to Italy.
Crofton Academy in Wakefield followed Salendine Nook High School, Huddersfield, and Hall Cross Academy, Doncaster, in taking the precautionary measure.
Pupils and staff from all three schools had been on skiing trips to Italy during half term. Public Health England advice is for people who have been to lockdown areas of Northern Italy to call 111 for further information and selfisolate for 14 days.
In a message to parents, Crofton Academy headteacher Peter Walker said: “Please be reassured that no one in the school is presenting with any Coronovirus symptoms. We are following advice from Public Health England and NHS 111. Students who attended the trip are to remain off school for 14 days (calendar days).
“This situation has arisen today given the extension of the exclusion zone in Italy to the whole of Northern Italy. That was not the situation prior to today.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people with flu-like symptoms who have been north of Pisa are asked to stay at home for 14 days. The advice also applies to anyone who recently returned from Italy’s quarantined towns even if they have no symptoms
Italy has put 11 towns in Lombardy and Veneto into lockdown. Police are manning checkpoints around the towns in quarantine, after 229 people have tested positive for the virus and seven died.
The news comes holidaymakers were told to stay inside a Tenerife hotel after an Italian doctor there was diagnosed with coronavirus.
Guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace have been sent a letter saying the hotel is “closed down” and they must remain in their rooms until further notice.
And London’s top flight shares index has dropped by nearly £100bn in just 48 hours as fears over the spread of coronavirus extended a brutal sell-off.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow has announced that he is in precautionary self-isolation after travelling to Iran to cover the country’s election.
FLU PATIENTS are to be assessed for coronavirus in a bid to spot whether it is spreading, it has emerged.
Samples from patients with severe respiratory infections – such as those with flu – in some hospitals in England will also be assessed for the virus. So far diagnostic tests have only been conducted on patients who are believed to be infected, but health officials plan to roll out the assessment more widely.
It is not believed that coronavirus is circulating in England, but by rolling out the tests, experts hope to spot any spread and put preventative measures in place. Around 100 primary care sites, such as GP surgeries, will also participate in the new scheme.