Third confirmed UK coronavirus case contracted disease outside China

This latest patient to test positive for the coronavirus, the third so far in the UK, was diagnosed in Brighton and is being transferred to a hospital in London, did not contract the virus in the UK or mainland China but, rather, another country in Asia.

Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer confirmed the case in a statement to the press.

“A further patient has tested positive for coronavirus bringing the total number of cases in the UK to three. The individual did not acquire this in the UK,” said Prof Chris Whitty, the CMO, in a statement.

“The patient is being transferred to a specialist NHS centre, and we are using robust infection control measures to prevent any possible further spread of the virus. The NHS is well prepared to manage these cases and we are working quickly to identify any contacts the patient has had.”

The patient will probably be admitted to the Royal Free hospital in north London, which is one of the UK’s two main centres for what the public health authorities call “high consequence infectious diseases”, or HCIDS. The other is in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the two first coronavirus cases were taken. London also has a unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital.

The first two confirmed cases were Chinese nationals, from the same family, one a student at York University the other, his mother, on a visit from China. They were diagnosed last week after falling ill at a hotel in York where they had been staying. The student had not been on campus or in student accommodation prior to his infection.

As of Wednesday there had been 466 negative test results in the UK. 1,469 passengers and 95 staff had arrived in the UK from Wuhan - the epicenter of the outbreak in China - between 10 January and 24 January. All 1,304 who remained in the UK are now out of the incubation period for the virus, which suggests the latest case did not come to the UK from Wuhan itself.

Professor Whitty refused to disclose the person’s nationality or the country in which they had caught the virus.

He said: “The person who caught this did not catch it in China, they caught it elsewhere in Asia. That’s an important point from an epidemiological point of view because, whilst it’s absolutely the case that by far the biggest risk remains in China … nevertheless there is now evidence of some limited transmission in a number of Asian countries.”

As of Thursday morning, following a scientific and advisory committee meeting, doctors at the NHS are being advised to extend the number of countries that should be looked at for individuals returning to the UK who display symptoms.

Whitty said: “We’ve decided … based on transmission potential and travel patterns … to extend geographically the countries where if a doctor in the NHS sees a patient who has traveled from Asia, now they will start thinking about testing from a wider geographical area than would have been the case before. So we are shifting geography for NHS doctors to test.”

“It is not surprising to see a third case. It has been expected that the UK would see more than just the two previous cases. Therefore, public health and NHS authorities will be well prepared to deal with and follow up on this news,” said Dr Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton.

“Clearly the outbreak is at a very important point, both globally and here in the UK. It looks at this stage like the infection is imported, rather than acquired through human-to-human transmission within the UK. So far, outside of China, there has been very limited human transmission of the coronavirus, which is good news in terms of potentially being able to contain the international spread.”

The Department of Health and Social Care has yet to release its list of Asian countries where it is now advising people who have traveled to and developed symptoms on their return to the UK to immediately self-isolate and call NHS 111 for advice.  

The department says it is aiming to release the list this evening.

However, the list could include Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka where cases of coronavirus have been confirmed.

According to the latest World Health Organisation figures, Japan now has 33 confirmed cases, Thailand 25 and Singapore 24.

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