Two people from the same family have now tested positive for Coronavirus in England and are being treated at a specialist centre in Newcastle.
The Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty says the NHS is: “extremely well-prepared and used to managing infections and we are already working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had, to prevent further spread.”
The UK’s four Chief Medical Officers have increased the level of risk in the UK from low to moderate, but insist: “we are confident in the ability of the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales and HSC in Northern Ireland to manage these in a way that protects the public and provides high quality care.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared coronavirus a global emergency as the spread continues around the world amid fears that it could reach countries with weaker health systems. Currently, most international cases are in people who had been to Wuhan in Hubei, but in eight cases in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States, patients had been infected by other people who had travelled to China.
