FILE PHOTO: Passengers from China disembark from a plane at RAF Brize Norton near Oxford, Britain, February 9, 2020. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Monday declared the new coronavirus a serious and imminent threat to public health, giving the government additional powers to isolate those suspected of being infected.
Britain has recorded four cases of coronavirus so far while British nationals who have been flown back from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the epidemic broke out, are being quarantined for 14 days.
The virus has killed more than 900 people, all but two in mainland China, and has spread to at least 27 countries and territories.
Britain’s health ministry said new measures were aimed at delaying or preventing further transmission of the coronavirus.
“We are strengthening our regulations so we can keep individuals in supported isolation for their own safety and if public health professionals consider they may be at risk of spreading the virus to other members of the public,” a health ministry spokesman said.
Arrowe Park Hospital, near Liverpool in northern England, and Kents Hill Park, in Milton Keynes, have been designated as isolation facilities.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden and Angus MacSwan
