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The number of UK patients tested for coronavirus has jumped to 52 with NHS staff being briefed on how to handle corpses infected with the lethal Chinese virus after it spread to three locations in nearby France.
The dossier published by Public Health England warns that the virus – which has stricken two in Paris and another in Bordeaux – is ‘accelerating.’ It comes as the number of cases worldwide soared to more than 2,000, with 56 dead in China.
PHE’s document obtained by The Sunday Times advises: ‘The act of moving a recently deceased patient onto a hospital trolley for transportation to the mortuary might be sufficient to expel small amounts of air from the lungs and thereby present a minor risk.
‘A body bag should be used for transferring the body and those handling the body at this point should use full PPE [personal protective equipment].’
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Passengers arriving at Heathrow today airport wearing face masks. So far 52 people have been tested in the UK but all results have come back negative
Face-masked passengers walk through Heathrow today after the number of UK patients tested for coronavirus jumped to 52
Members of a military medical team head for Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province
Two further cases were confirmed in France on Friday night, the first European cases of the deadly virus, just across the English Channel
Public Health England has stationed teams of doctors at Heathrow (people pictured today) for anyone feeling ill after arriving from China
Furthermore, medics meeting any potentially infected people should wear ‘full-face visors,’ while GPs should avoid contact with patients and place them into immediate quarantine.
‘In the absence of effective drugs or a vaccine, control of this disease relies on the prompt identification, appropriate risk assessment, management and isolation of possible cases,’ the document adds.
As of Sunday afternoon, 52 people across the UK had been tested for the deadly flu-like virus – a rise of 21 on yesterday – but all tests were confirmed as negative.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the Government was ‘looking at all options’ to help Britons leave Wuhan following reports that officials have been asked to examine the logistics for an airlift from the city.
It comes as the Foreign Office last night prepared a charter flight for around 200 British citizens and diplomats trapped in Wuhan, where 11million are on lock-down.
Meanwhile, health officials are continuing to track down around 2,000 people who have recently flown into the UK from Wuhan.
Yet thousands of revellers celebrated Chinese new year in central London despite worries about coronavirus spreading to the UK.
Infection concerns did not dampen festivities, as a 50-foot golden dragon and a bagpipe procession travelled from Charing Cross to Chinatown where hundreds of red lanterns lined the streets.
It comes as a top Chinese health official said today that the new virus was becoming more contagious than SARS – from the same family of coronaviruses – which killed nearly 650 people across Beijing and Hong Kong in 2003.
The three patients in France are doing ‘very well,’ France’s director-general of health Jerome Salomon said.
However, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said Sunday that the Chinese Lunar New Year parade in the city – where two are infected – was being cancelled as a ‘precaution.’
‘Yesterday, I met members of the Chinese community in Paris who themselves wished to cancel the procession’ scheduled for Republique square, the mayor told reporters.
Health officials in France were tracking other people the three had been in contact with.
Workers from local disease control and prevention department in protective suits disinfect a residential area following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Ruichang, Jiangxi province
Medical staff attending to patients, in Wuhan, China, at the city’s central hospital on Saturday
Britain’s Department of Health confirmed it is trying to find ‘as many passengers as we can’ who arrived from Wuhan in the past two weeks to check on their wellbeing.
It is understood Border Force officers have been recruited to help speed up the search for passengers as testing for the virus continues in the UK.
One British man who had travelled to Wuhan to visit his girlfriend is stuck in the city after his return flight on February 3 was cancelled, and he described trying to get out of the area as ‘impossible’.
The 29-year-old, who did not want to be named, said: ‘There have been sporadic warnings from local government in Chinese to tell us that there will be road closures.
‘There is no news on when the airport will re-open therefore the airline (China Southern) have just cancelled the flight.
‘I’ve also had no help from the UK Embassy in Beijing who are conveniently closed for the weekend.’
England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said there is a ‘fair chance’ cases will emerge in Britain.
A patient is treated for coronavirus in Wuhan Red Cross Hospital today. Sufferers have reportedly collapsed in the street due to the infection
China’s government has faced criticism for censoring the number infected. Pictured above is the Wuhan Huanan South China seafood market where it is believed coronavirus may have made the jump to humans
The professor spoke following a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee in Whitehall on Friday, chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
He said: ‘I am working closely with the other UK chief medical officers.
‘We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage.’
He added: ‘The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world.
‘A public health hub will be set up in Heathrow from today. This consists of clinicians and other public health officials, in addition to existing port health measures.’
Passengers arriving at Heathrow airport wearing face masks. So far 31 people have been tested in the UK but all results have come back negative
In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker attends to a patient in the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province
In an interview, Prof Whitty said: ‘We think there’s a fair chance we may get some cases over time.
‘Of course this depends on whether this continues for a long time, or whether this turns out to be something which is brought under control relatively quickly.’
He added: ‘I think we should definitely see this as a marathon, not a sprint, we need to have our entire response based on that principle.
‘At the minute it definitely looks like this is a lot less dangerous if you get it than Ebola, and a lot less dangerous than the recent coronavirus MERS, and it’s probably less dangerous if you get it than SARS virus.
‘What we don’t know is how far it’s going to spread, that really is something we need to plan for all eventualities.’
Eerie photos from empty Beijing Airport – one of the world’s busiest
Suzan Tokdemir, 51, an English teacher, took the photos after flying into Beijing International Airport on Saturday evening after travelling on an almost-empty flight into the Chinese capital city from Hong Kong.
Ms Tokdemir took pictures of cabin crew on the Hong Kong Airlines flight wearing masks while serving refreshments from the trolley.
In another the outside of the airport, only three people could be seen in a usually packed area.
The airport in the Chinese capital city has ranked second-busiest airport in the world every year since 2010, and usually sees around 100 million passengers pass through it a year.
Suzan Tokdemir, 51, an English teacher, took the photos after flying into Beijing International Airport on Saturday evening after travelling on an almost-empty flight into the Chinese capital city from Hong Kong
Ms Tokdemir, who teaches English at an international middle school in Beijing, said: ‘It was quite eery. It’s not what you’d expect at Beijing Airport.
Ms Tokdemir, who left Phuket, Thailand on Friday morning, and flew back to Beijing via Bangkok and Hong Kong, said it was ‘spooky’ to see the numbers dwindle on each of her connecting flights.
‘It took me 15 minutes from getting off the plane to standing outside the front of the airport – that included collecting my luggage, passport check, fingerprint scan, everything.
‘On the flight, there were only about 50 passengers. I looked around as was getting off the plane, and I estimated there can’t have been much more than 50 people.
‘It was one of the big planes, with eight seats across in a row, but they put us all at the back of the plane – the front half of the plane was completely empty.
‘All the flight attendants were masked, and most of the passengers were too.. They took them off to eat the food and then put them straight back on.
‘Before we got off, they came round and disinfected the plane, and there was an announcement telling people to declare any symptoms they might have,’ Ms Tokdemir added.
Ms Tokdemir, who left Phuket, Thailand on Friday morning, and flew back to Beijing via Bangkok and Hong Kong, said it was ‘spooky’ to see the numbers dwindle on each of her connecting flights.
‘Even at Hong Kong airport, almost everyone was masked,’ she said.
‘At Beijing International Airport, we had to keep taking our masks off, so that our faces could be identified – which sort of defeats the point.’
And she added that even the motorway in Beijing was ’empty’, saying: ‘Usually you can hardly move on the motorway. The coronavirus has emptied Beijing.
‘I had hired a driver to take me home, and he got stopped by masked police on the way back and had his temperature checked.
Ms Tokdemir took pictures of cabin crew on the Hong Kong Airlines flight wearing masks while serving refreshments from the trolley
‘It was really spooky, it was like something out of a sci-fi movie,’ said Ms Tokdemir.
She is due to return to work on February 7, after four weeks off to mark Chinese New Year.
But Ms Tokdemir said that some of her colleagues, who have left the country during the break, are unsure about whether to return.
Reporting by SWNS
Cities across the United States and Canada are on high alert amid the escalating coronavirus crisis as 63 people in 22 states are suspected to have contracted the deadly strain. The map above shows confirmed and suspected cases in the US and Canada
Coronavirus fears fail to dampen Chinese New Year celebrations in London
Thousands of revellers, including many from China, celebrated Chinese new year in central London despite worries about coronavirus spreading to the UK.
Many people welcoming the Year of the Rat in the biggest celebration for the lunar festival outside China were wearing filter masks to protect themselves against the respiratory virus.
But coronavirus worries did not dampen festivities, as a 50-foot golden dragon and a bagpipe procession travelled from Charing Cross to Chinatown where hundreds of red lanterns lined the streets.
Outside restaurants and cafes in Chinatown, people were queuing down the street, and many gathered to watch firecrackers heralding the start of the celebrations in Trafalgar Square.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has urged Britons trapped in the Hubei province of China, which has been on lockdown for several days following the coronavirus outbreak, to leave the area if they are able to.
Thousands of revellers, including many from China, celebrated Chinese new year in central London despite worries about coronavirus spreading to the UK
Performers taking part in a lion dance in Trafalgar Square welcoming the Year of the Rat in the biggest celebration for the lunar festival outside China
Chinese student Siyan Li, from Shandong, was wearing a face mask as she celebrated in Chinatown because she was ‘afraid’ of the virus.
The 22-year-old Nottingham University student said: ‘China has advised everyone to stay at home and not come out. I’m afraid.
‘I don’t know if there are many people with this kind of fear, but I think this (the mask) is a good way to protect myself.’
Conan Zhao, 35, and his wife Daisy Huang, 27, were holidaying in London for Chinese new year and were also wearing masks as ‘a precaution’.
Mr Zhao, from Shenzhen in China, said: ‘The most important thing is self-protection – you need to protect yourself, but there is no need to worry.’
He added: ‘We came here for Chinese new year, and it’s our first time in London.
‘Chinese people have come to London for a very long time and we wanted to see how people celebrate Chinese new year here.’
Lily Ferreira and Katerina Jelinkova, two volunteers helping to manage the festivities for the London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA), said they were worried about the effect of the virus on their performers from China.
Miss Ferreira, a 25-year-old music and business student from Portugal who was wearing a mask, said: ‘Some of our performers came from China, so we were worried about getting them here, but it hasn’t been a problem.’
Miss Jelinkova, 22, from Czech Republic, said she would wear a mask in central London anyway because of air pollution.
Coronavirus worries did not dampen festivities, as a 50-foot golden dragon and a bagpipe procession travelled from Charing Cross to Chinatown where hundreds of red lanterns lined the streets
Outside restaurants and cafes in Chinatown, people were queuing down the street, and many gathered to watch firecrackers heralding the start of the celebrations in Trafalgar Square
Phillip Rowell, a British scriptwriter who lived in Hong Kong and Singapore during the Sars virus outbreak in 2003, said he was not worried about another respiratory virus from the region.
Mr Rowell, 49, who was celebrating with his wife and son, said: ‘We lived through a few of those things in Asia, we had Sars when we were there and I always think it looks worse on the news.
‘I’m sure it’s serious, but the numbers (of those infected) are actually quite low at the moment, so I wasn’t really worried about being around Chinese people or anything like that.
‘We had breakfast in a Chinese dim sum place this morning, it was packed, people were waiting for tables, there was no sense of people staying away.’
He added he has ‘faith in the Chinese government’ because they ‘learned their lesson’ after Sars, which killed 774 people in 17 countries.
Elaine Lui, a Newcastle University media student from south-east China, also said she was confident precautions in China would help to tackle the virus.
She said: ‘I have a friend in Wuhan but I’m not worried. The Chinese people, we will protect ourselves and also protect everyone else.’
Suzanne Corbin, 64, from Whitstable, Kent, said she ‘definitely’ thought about coronavirus before coming to the festival, but ‘decided the risk was really low’.
She said: ‘I come every year because I love the tradition of the Chinese new year.
‘I love the dragons, the dancing, the noise, the celebration of spring. There’s a lot of people out enjoying it.’
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