Science

Coronavirus: Britain prepares to evacuate citizens from Hubei


Britain is getting ready to evacuate British citizens from the Chinese province at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak and is attempting to identify how many want to leave, a cabinet minister has said.

Britons in Hubei province, where the virus began, are being asked to contact the consulate if they want to be airlifted, according to Grant Shapps.

The transport secretary was speaking as British citizens expressed frustration at what was said to be a lack of communication and contrasted the UK response unfavourably with the rapid reaction of other states to airlift their nationals.

Many British nationals on social media were also discussing rumours that an announcement about flights would be made within hours.

“We don’t have a list of people in the region so we keep on putting the message out,” Shapps told Sky News, which reported that Britain and China would work on a possible evacuation of UK citizens from Hubei in the next few days.

“Not everybody wants to be repatriated but we are working on arrangements with other international colleagues to do that.”

What is the virus causing illness in Wuhan?

It is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals, or possibly seafood. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.

What other coronaviruses have there been?

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals.

What are the symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus?

The virus causes pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work. If people are admitted to hospital, they may get support for their lungs and other organs as well as fluids. Recovery will depend on the strength of their immune system. Many of those who have died are known to have been already in poor health.

Is the virus being transmitted from one person to another?

Human to human transmission has been confirmed by China’s national health commission. As of 27 January, the Chinese authorities had acknowledged more than 2,700 cases and 56 deaths. In the past week, the number of confirmed infections has more than tripled and cases have been found in 13 provinces, as well as the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The virus has also been confirmed outside China, in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. There have not been any confirmed cases in the UK at present, with the 14 people tested for the virus all proving negative. The actual number to have contracted the virus could be far higher as people with mild symptoms may not have been detected. Modelling by WHO experts at Imperial College London suggests there could be as many as 100,000 cases, with uncertainty putting the margins between 30,000 and 200,000.

How worried are the experts?

There were fears that the coronavirus might spread more widely during the week-long lunar new year holidays, which start on 24 January, when millions of Chinese travel home to celebrate, but the festivities have largely been cancelled and Wuhan and other Chinese cities are in lockdown.

At what point should you go to the doctor if you have a cough, say?

Unless you have recently travelled to China or been in contact with someone infected with the virus, then you should treat any cough or cold symptoms as normal. The NHS advises that there is generally no need to visit a doctor for a cough unless it is persistent or you are having other symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or you feel very unwell.

Should we panic?

No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. It increases the likelihood that the World Health Organization will declare the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday evening. The key concerns are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people and what proportion become severely ill and end up in hospital.

Sarah Boseley Health editor and Hannah Devlin 

In Wuhan, some UK citizens complained of what they described as a lack of clarity on the part of the British government, but there was also confusion about what Britain’s departure from the European Union would mean in terms of any partnerships with other EU states.

“People want to know if there permission from the Chinese government for the flights to leave,” Kathleen Bell told the Guardian.

She had yet to contact a Foreign Office helpline number but added that Britons on social medial had been gathering lists of names themselves in recent days.

“One of the deciding factors for a lot of people though is whether they will be allowed to bring their Chinese spouses or children with them.”

The Twitter account of Britain’s embassy in Beijing, UK in China, has been posting the numbers for a 24-hour helpline that British citizens in Hubei can call.

The World Health Organisation is recommending that people take simple precautions to reduce exposure to and transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.

The UN agency advises people to:

  • Frequently wash their hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or warm water and soap
  • Cover their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing
  • Avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough
  • Seek early medical help if they have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and share their travel history with healthcare providers
  • Avoid direct, unprotected contact with live animals and surfaces in contact with animals when visiting live markets in affected areas
  • Avoid eating raw or undercooked animal products and exercise care when handling raw meat, milk or animal organs to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods

Despite a surge in sales of face masks in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, experts are divided over whether they can prevent transmission and infection. There is some evidence to suggest that masks can help prevent hand-to-mouth transmissions, given the large number of times people touch their faces. The consensus appears to be that wearing a mask can limit – but not eliminate – the risks, provided they are used correctly.

Justin McCurry

As almost 1,300 new cases were confirmed on Monday in China and the death toll rose to more than 100, the latest official advice in the UK is for anyone travelling from the affected areas of China to isolate themselves regardless of whether they have symptoms. Those who feel unwell are to be quarantined.

Peter Openshaw, professor of medicine at Imperial College London and a former adviser to the government on the Sars pandemic, said “every possible precaution” needed to be taken and predicted that self-quarantine at home was likely to be part of the response in Britain.

“It’s undoubted that this is something that we need to be very concerned about. I don’t think we need to panic but we need to be very concerned,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

Asked about whether the National Health Service had the necessary resources to deal with the crisis, Openshaw added: “I think there is going to have to be a lot of self-quarantine and this is part of the government policy, that people should quarantine themselves at home while results are awaited.

“There are many things that we don’t know at the moment and a particular concern at the moment is that transmission may be occurring among people who are not symptomatic. The science on that is not really very strong. We need to know a lot more about the asymptomatic disease.”



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.