Coronavirus UK latest: Latest Brit coronavirus patient ‘linked to previous cases’

  • There are more than 40,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the world so far
  • More than 900 people have died from the illness
  • Four people have tested positive in the UK
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The latest case of coronavirus in the UK appears to be linked to previously confirmed cases in England, France and Spain, England's health chief has revealed.

The patient is “a known contact of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France," chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said.

The third case confirmed in the UK is understood to be a middle-aged British man who caught the illness in Singapore.

He was diagnosed in Brighton and was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where there is an infectious diseases unit, on Thursday afternoon.

Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive to be quarantined in Milton Keynes
PA

Meanwhile, it is known that the five British nationals who tested positive in France on Saturday were diagnosed after they came into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore.

The four adults and a nine-year-old child, who are not in a serious condition, were staying in the Alpine resort area of Contamines-Montjoie near Mont Blanc.

French officials said the British national who was in Singapore returned on January 24 and stayed for four days in the area in eastern France, before returning to England on January 28.

A British man in Majorca has also tested positive for coronavirus, while his wife and two daughters tested negative.

According to the government in the Balearic Islands, the family said they had been in contact with a person who tested positive for coronavirus in France.

Professor Paul Hunter, professor in medicine, University of East Anglia, said: “From today’s reports, this new case would appear to be linked to the cluster of cases in the French ski resort which is also linked to the case in Brighton.

“As such this case is part of the same cluster which is being reported as linked to a British national returning from Singapore.

"Whilst we currently do not know many details about how this new case was linked to others in the cluster, his/her identification does not at this stage indicate wider spread within the UK community.

“If the new individual had been already identified through contact tracing and the person was self-isolating then this should not pose any additional risk.

“Further cases within an already identified cluster are not surprising and do not pose an additional risk to public health providing such contacts are complying with instructions from Public Health England.”

The Department of Health did not give any detail on how the cases are linked.

The flight, with more than 200 people on board, including some foreign nationals, arrived at RAF Brize Norton shortly before 7.30am.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was the second and final flight to be chartered by the Government and has British Government staff and military medics on board.

The passengers will now be taken to the Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where they will be quarantined for 14 days

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