Current Affairs
Third UK patient believed to have ‘caught coronavirus in Singapore’
BBC reported today that a third confirmed case of a person from UK who has been tested positive of the coronavirus. It is believed that he contracted the disease in Singapore.
He was tested in Brighton before being taken to a hospital in London.
The UK government is now informing travelers who are arriving in the UK from nine Asian countries and territories, to be checked for the coronavirus symptoms.
They are advised to stay at home and call the National Health Service (NHS) if they are ill and have flown home in the last 14 days.
The earlier advice only covered mainland China, but now it includes, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau.
Those returning in the past two weeks from these countries and experience symptoms like a cough, fever, or shortness of breath should stay indoors and call the NHS, 111 service.
The UK Department of Health advised that they should seek treatment “even if symptoms are mild” adding, “These countries have been identified because of the volume of air travel from affected areas, understanding of other travel routes and number of reported cases. This list will be kept under review.”
The latest confirmed case of the UK patient relates to a middle-aged man who has since been isolated at home and tested positive for the virus. He was taken to St Thomas’s Hospital in central London, where he is currently being treated at the specialist infectious diseases unit.
This is the first UK case where the virus was contracted outside mainland China.
According to England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, the NHS is “well prepared” to manage cases. He added they are working quickly to identify any contacts the patient has had.
At the same time, the Chinese ambassador to the UK warned against “panic” and “over-reaction” in response to the virus.
Two other patients, both of Chinese nationality, are still being treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary Infectious Disease Service in Newcastle.
The patient is a university of York student and one of his relatives is being tested positive for the virus after falling ill at a hotel in York.
In a statement provided by The University of Sussex, revealed that the new case was not a student or member of staff from the university.
It is reported that the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, called on the UK government to support China in its handling of the outbreak and said Chinese measures to control the spread of the virus had been effective.
To date, China has introduced more restrictive measures which include banning from eating in groups, or in dining areas, and they have also imposed limitations on how often people can go outside including drastic measures like switching off lifts in buildings.
These restrictions come in the wake of a report that the Chinese doctor who tried to issue the first warnings about the outbreak has died of the infection, according to Chinese media.
Nearly 100 Britons have been flown out of Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, on flights arranged by the UK government.
All 100 of them are now quarantined at the Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral for 14 days. The mandatory 14 days quarantine is believed to be the required incubation period for the virus.
The UK government is chartering a final flight to bring British nationals back from Wuhan, which is due to leave on Sunday.
The UK Foreign Office further advised Britons in other parts of China to leave the country to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus, which has now spread to more than two dozen nations.
Separately, the World Health Organization said the world was still “shadow boxing” with the new virus because many things about it remain unknown, including its precise origin, transmissibility and its severity.
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