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First UK coronavirus death announced


The UK has announced its first fatality from coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to more than 110.

Chris Whitty, chief medical officer, confirmed on Thursday that a person with underlying health conditions had been admitted to hospital and “died of novel coronavirus”.

The news came shortly after the government announced another 30 confirmed cases in the UK, taking the total to 115. It is unclear how 10 of the cases caught the disease. One other British person has died but that was in Japan after the man became infected aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Speaking to MPs on Thursday morning, Prof Whitty said the UK was now “mainly in the second stage” of its plan to tackle the spread of the virus and was gradually shifting its focus from containing individual cases to delaying the peak of the outbreak until the summer. The impact on the National Health Service then would be less profound.

Prof Whitty later clarified that the government had not yet “made the full move” away from the “contain” stage of its so-called “battle plan” but would be moving “at full tilt” toward the delay phase of controlling the disease.

He also announced that the authorities had expanded the advice for travellers coming from northern Italy to cover the rest of that country. This means people returning from anywhere in Italy should self-isolate if they develop flu symptoms after returning to the UK.

Prof Whitty confirmed that patients with a mild form will now be treated mainly at home rather than in hospital. “Where people have very minimal symptoms it is safer for them, as well as more pleasant, if they can self-isolate with support,” he said.

Susan Hopkins, deputy director of the National Infection Service, told journalists that 45 out of 115 people who had tested positive were being treated at home, and were being given clinical assessments with doctors over a dedicated phone line. She pointed out that daily contact would help to ensure that those with the illness were self-isolating, but much would depend on people’s “good will”.

She confirmed that 18 people have been cured.

In a statement, Royal Berkshire NHS trust said the first victim was “an older patient with underlying health conditions”.

“The patient has previously been in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, but on this occasion was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus,” it said.

“Our sympathies are very much with the victim and their family,” said Boris Johnson. The prime minister added that over “the next few days” experts would be looking at what kind of measures might be necessary to “retard” spread of the disease.

“As soon as they’ve decided that the moment is right to announce those, we will be absolutely clear with the public about what needs to be done,” he said. “But for the moment things are as they have been.”

Prof Whitty said modelling suggests that 50 per cent of cases in the UK will probably happen during a three-week period and 95 per cent within a nine-week period, potentially resulting in high numbers of cases “way over-topping the ability of the NHS to put everyone in beds”.

Addressing a National Audit Office report that found the NHS has a shortage of nurses, he said: “Nobody would claim that we would have the optimal number of nurses . . . but the system will flex around that.”

He added that it was too soon to say whether measures such as school closures would be the most effective way of containment, but said if a single pupil had the infection, their school would be closed.

In later stages of the disease, older people and those with pre-existing health conditions could be told to self-isolate or avoid public gatherings. Health authorities would be advising on how to support older people in these circumstances, he said.



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