Health

Coronavirus: First Welsh case among three new UK diagnoses


Royal Free Hospital in LondonImage copyright
Getty Images

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Two new patients in England are being treated at a specialist centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London

Three more cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK, including the first one in Wales.

Two new patients in England contracted the virus while in Iran, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Public Health Wales said it was working to identify close contacts of the Welsh patient, who is from the Swansea area and was infected in northern Italy before returning to the UK.

The new cases bring the total number in the UK to 19.

Wales’ chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton said “all appropriate measures” were being taken to care for the patient and reduce the risk of transmission.

The patients in England are being treated at a specialist centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee on Monday in response to a growing number of cases in Europe.

It comes as nine people from the Canary Islands left the Costa Adeje Palace hotel in Tenerife. Some 168 Britons were among hundreds of guests confined to the hotel after four Italian tourists tested positive for the virus.

Image copyright
Reuters

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Medical staff are at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife

It is understood that airline Jet2 told the hotel’s British guests they will not be flown home until 10 March unless they have tested negative.

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Media captionLara Pennington and her family have self-isolated in their room after being quarantined in their hotel

Experts have warned of school closures and the cancellation of major sporting events, concerts and festivals in the UK in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, which causes Covid-19.

England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said on Thursday that transmission of the virus between people in the UK was “just a matter of time”.

He said if the outbreak intensifies, it may be necessary to close schools and stop mass gatherings of people for “probably more than two months”.

The World Health Organization also warned that the outbreak had reached a “decisive point” and had “pandemic potential”.

Globally, more than 80,000 people have been infected. About 2,800 have died – the majority in China’s Hubei province.

It is important to realise the UK does not have an “outbreak” of the coronavirus.

We are dealing with the ripples of large, uncontrolled outbreaks elsewhere in the world.

The cases announced on Thursday and Friday were all people who had been infected abroad before travelling to the UK – the virus is not spreading from person to person here.

It means the UK’s strategy remains one of containment – isolate any infected people and perform rigorous detective work to find and test anyone they come into contact with.

Further cases are almost inevitable for as long as outbreaks in Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan continue.

What should I do to minimise the risk?

Public health advice is to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or sleeve when you cough or sneeze, throw away tissues immediately after use and wash your hands frequently.

It is also advised to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unclean hands and avoid close contact with people who are unwell.


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