First two cases of coronavirus confirmed in UK

sky news africa First two cases of coronavirus confirmed in UK

UNITED KINGDOM

Two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK, Public Health England has said.

Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said: “We can confirm that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus.

“The patients are receiving specialist NHS care, and we are using tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus.”

He said they were being treated at a specialist infectious diseases unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, and said PHE had upgraded the risk to the public from “low” to “moderate” due to the changing global picture.

Prof Whitty said the two cases do not increase the risk to the UK and that the virus remains “moderately transmissible” and currently has a 2% mortality rate – considerably lower than the outbreaks of Ebola (70%) and SARS (10%).

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