Update: A GP practice in Brighton has been temporarily closed after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus.
Earlier a British man who caught coronavirus in Singapore is feared to be a ‘super spreader’ who is linked to seven other confirmed cases in the UK, France and Spain.
He was the third of four confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and is understood to be the first British person to contract the disease.
On Monday, the UK government introduced new powers to deal with coronavirus and declared it a “serious and imminent threat to public health”.
Disease experts have warned that Britain is facing a “major outbreak” of the disease.
It comes as the death toll in China from the virus rose to 908, with the number of confirmed cases in the country reaching 40,171.
Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said the patient is “a known contact of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France”.
Four more patients have been have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in UK bringing the number to eight. The patients have been transferred to specialist NHS centres at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital and the Royal Free hospital in London.
British media said the patient is a British businessman in his 50s, whose movements prompted testing of hundreds of people on his flights, Alpine ski trip and visit to his local pub.
The man travelled back to the UK on an easyJet flight from Geneva in Switzerland on January 28.
An easyJet spokeswoman said: “EasyJet has been notified by the public health authority that a customer who had recently travelled on one of its flights has since been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“Public Health England is contacting all passengers who were seated in the vicinity of the customer on flight EZS8481 from Geneva to London Gatwick on 28 January to provide guidance in line with procedures.
“As the customer was not experiencing any symptoms, the risk to others on board the flight is very low. We remain in contact with the public health authorities and are following their guidance.”
The airline said crew had been advised to monitor themselves for 14 days since the flight and that none of them are displaying any symptoms.
He is thought to have been diagnosed in Brighton and was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where there is an infectious diseases unit, last Thursday.
Five British nationals who tested positive for coronavirus in France were diagnosed after they came into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore.
Read more via Sky News/BBC/ The Guardian
