Killer coronavirus ‘could ALREADY be in Britain’: Heathrow passengers to be isolated as experts reveal up to TEN THOUSAND patients in Chinese city of Wuhan alone may be infected
- Experts say there may already be a case because UK screening ‘is not foolproof’
- Researchers have predicted up to 10,000 patients in Wuhan may have the virus
- Last week the same team estimated just 1,700 residents in the city had the virus
- However, the Imperial College London team have now upgraded their estimate
The killer Chinese coronavirus that is sweeping across Asia may already be in Britain, health experts have warned today.
It comes as leading scientists have warned up to 10,000 patients may have caught the SARS-like virus in Wuhan – the Chinese city at the heart of the outbreak.
Experts fear there may already be a mild case of the never-before-seen virus in the UK because screening in the UK ‘is not foolproof’.
Heathrow Airport today took the extraordinary measure to separate all passengers flying from Wuhan to try and stop the infection reaching British soil.
Health chiefs have also raised the disease threat level in the UK, amid the spread of the virus which has now infected 473 people and killed nine in Asia.
The US last night revealed its first case of the coronavirus in a man in his 30s from Washington State, who had travelled back from Wuhan.
US President Donald Trump today said America has a plan to contain the spread of the virus, which officials have confirmed can spread between humans.
Patients have already been confirmed in Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, and one man in Australia is being tested for the virus.
An American man with the new coronavirus has been identified in Washington state, CDC officials said on Wednesday, bringing the total number of countries with cases of the deadly virus to five outside of China, including the US, Thailand, Japan South Korea and Taiwan
Officials measure temperatures of passengers on board on an Air China flight from Wuhan to Macau
Travellers from the area of China at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow Airport as UK health chiefs step up their response
Professor Neil Ferguson, the Imperial researcher behind the worrying prediction, did say the UK was not a major travel destination for Wuhan residents.
London is connected to Wuhan – which is home to 11million people – by three direct flights to Heathrow each week.
And Professor Ferguson said ‘we can’t rule out the possibility’, when asked if there could already be a case in the UK.
Speaking at a press briefing by the Science Media Centre, he added: ‘Screening in the UK is not foolproof so there could be a mild case.’
Fears of the outbreak were last week stoked by the Imperial team when they warned up to 4,000 patients in Wuhan may have caught the virus.
They used flight data to make the estimate, with figures showing that 3,300 people in Wuhan fly internationally per day.
But the team has now upgraded their estimate, given how quickly the never-before-seen infection has spread around China and the world.
The report concludes: ‘It is likely the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan has caused substantially more cases of moderate or severe respiratory illness than have currently been detected and reported.’
The new coronavirus, which is yet to be named, causes cold-like symptoms including a runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat and a fever.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THIS OUTBREAK SO FAR?
A total of 456 people are confirmed to have caught the unnamed coronavirus, which has never been seen before. Six patients have died.
Most of the cases have occurred in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province home to 11million people. But patients have been diagnosed across China, including in Beijing and Shanghai.
The coronavirus, which is from the same family as SARS, has also spread to South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan.
Chinese officials yesterday confirmed the virus has spread between humans, suggesting it can be passed through coughs and sneezes.
The outbreak is believed to have started late last month among people connected to a seafood market in Wuhan, which has since been shut.
China is entering its busiest travel period due to the Lunar New Year, which sees many people travelling back to their home town or village.
Virologists fear the increased travel that will happen over the holidays will cause a surge in cases.
So where have cases been recorded?
IN CHINA
Hubei province, 375 cases, 9 deaths
Guangdong province, 26 cases
Chongqing province, 5 cases
Zhejiang province, 5 cases
Hainan province, 4 cases
Jiangxi, 2 cases
Henan province, 1 case
Hunan province, 1 case
Yunnan province, 1 case
Sichuan province, 2 cases
Shandong province, 1 case
Fujian province, 1 case
Shanxi province, 1 case
Shanghai, 9 cases
Beijing, 10 cases
Tianjin, 2 cases
Macau, 1 case
Hong Kong, 1 case
—
ABROAD
Thailand, 4 cases
South Korea, 1 case
Japan, 1 case
Taiwan, 1 case
US, 1 case
Thai medical staff wear protective suits transfer a 70-year-old patient, who is suspected of having coronavirus infected after traveling back from Wuhan
A child wears a face mask at Hong Kong’s international airport
Travellers wear masks in the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport amid fears the coronavirus outbreak will spread
A Thai nurse works next to a campaign poster alerting patients of the coronavirus at a hospital in Bangkok. Four cases have been confirmed in Thailand
Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated
Malaysian officials use thermal imaging scanners and cameras to check passengers for fevers upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Malaysian officials use thermal imaging scanners and cameras to check passengers for fevers upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
FOOTBALL AND BOXING QUALIFIERS ARE MOVED FROM WUHAN
Officials have today announced football and boxing qualifying matches held in Wuhan for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be moved from Wuhan.
Wuhan is at the centre of the ever-growing outbreak, which has sickened at least 450 people across Asia and spread to US.
The Asian Football Confederation today said the women’s qualifiers being held at Wuhan will be moved to the eastern city of Nanjing.
Wuhan was supposed to host China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia for the Group B qualifiers between February 3-9.
The football confederation said the change was proposed by the Chinese Football Association.
Taiwan’s football association had warned earlier that it would withdraw from the qualifiers if they were held in Wuhan.
Before news of the cancellation, the Australian women’s soccer team said it was still preparing for its trip to Wuhan.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency today also announced a boxing qualifier held in Wuhan for the same Olympics would be cancelled.
Citing organisers, Kyodo said the qualifiers would be rescheduled and moved from Wuhan.
There was no independent confirmation from the organisers, and Japan’s boxing federation said it was waiting to hear from the International Olympic Committee on the reported cancellation.
Kyodo said the IOC was expected to announce a new host and schedule for the qualifiers.
CHINESE RESIDENTS TURN TO PLAYING A PLAGUE SIMULATOR GAME AMID OUTBREAK
Scores of Chinese residents have been turning to an online plague simulation game and a disaster movie called ‘The Flu’ amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Plague Inc, a strategy simulation app by UK-based Ndemic creations, was today the top-paid game on the iOS operating system on China’s Apple Store. It allows users to create and evolve a pathogen to destroy the world.
‘The best way to conquer fear is to confront fear,’ said one commentator on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
‘Isn’t this actually joining the evil force if you cannot beat the evil force?’ joked another.
South Korean disaster flick ‘The Flu’ was also the most searched-for movie on Chinese media review and social networking site Douban.
A documentary on the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak topped TV searches.
Furthermore, 11 out of 14 top-ranked articles on content platform Toutiao were related to pneumonia, as were over half of the 50 most-read topics on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
People wearing face masks at a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan recorded its first case of the coronavirus this morning
WHAT ARE THE ONLY OUTBREAKS TO HAVE BEEN DEEMED AN EMERGENCY?
2009 Swine flu epidemic
In 2009 ‘Swine flu’ was identified for the first time in Mexico and was named because it is a similar virus to one which affects pigs. The outbreak is believed to have killed as many as 575,400 people – the H1N1 strain is now just accepted as normal seasonal flu.
2014 Poliovirus resurgence
Poliovirus began to resurface in countries where it had once been eradicated, and the WHO called for a widespread vaccination programme to stop it spreading. Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria were most at risk of spreading the illness internationally.
2014 Ebola outbreak
Ebola killed at least 11,000 people across the world after it spread like wildfire through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014, 2015 and 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected in what was the worst ever outbreak of the disease.
2016 Zika outbreak
Zika, a tropical disease which can cause serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women, was the subject of an outbreak in Brazil’s capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. There were fears that year’s Olympic Games would have to be cancelled after more than 200 academics wrote to the World Health Organization warning about it.
2019 Ebola outbreak
Almost 4,000 people were struck down with the killer virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year. More than 2,000 patients died. WHO officials refused to declare it an emergency three times before making a U-turn.
Passengers leaving for Wuhan, waiting at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, Rome
Malaysia is one of many countries that have stepped up their passenger screening, with airport workers screening travellers for symptoms of the virus
TRAVELLERS FROM WUHAN TO BE SEPARATED FROM OTHER PASSENGERS AT HEATHROW
Travellers from the area of China at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow Airport as UK health chiefs step up their response.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said Public Health England is putting in place new precautions in relation to travellers to the UK from the region.
‘There have been some announcements this morning about flights that come direct from the affected region to Heathrow with some additional measures there,’ he told Sky News.
‘At the moment Public Health England have moved this from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ but obviously we want to stay ahead of the issue so we are keeping a very close eye on it.
‘Initially this is to ensure that when flights come in directly into Heathrow there is a separate area for people to arrive in.’
Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 5 Live Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce a package of precautionary measures later.
Though not confirmed, a Government source has reportedly told the BBC the measures will include:
- Medics meeting each direct flight landing at Heathrow from Wuhan
- Aircraft announcements telling passengers to report if they are ill before landing
- Planes landing in an isolated area of Heathrow Terminal 4
Pictured: A close-up of travellers on the thermal imaging camera at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
South Korean cleaners prepare to disinfect the facilities at the customs, immigration and quarantine area at Incheon International Airport
CHINESE COMPANIES HANDING OUT FREE FACE MASKS TO STAFF
Companies across China were today handing out masks and warning staff to avoid the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
At Foxconn’s Lunar New Year party on Wednesday, founder Terry Gou advised Taiwan-based employees not to visit mainland China during the week-long holiday period.
‘Colleagues and their families who have come back from Wuhan are all in isolation at home. The infection is spreading very fast,’ Mr Gou added.
Company workers in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have been wearing facemasks and getting their temperature checked, the Apple supplier also said.
Huawei Technologies has asked staff to reduce travel to Wuhan and avoid contact with animals, adding that it had set up an outbreak prevention and control team in the city to carry out disinfecting activities.
Citic Securities and investment bank China International Capital Corp have asked employees to avoid trips to Wuhan and Hubei province, where the city is located, if they can.
Citic has also asked staff to voluntarily quarantine themselves if they do travel to Hubei. HSBC said it had advised employees that travel to Wuhan could continue but has asked them to be extra vigilant.
Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, said this week it would issue masks and disinfectant to its drivers and would allow passengers and drivers in Wuhan to cancel trips for free in the days up to January 31.
Officials at Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control use thermal scanners to screen passengers arriving on a flight from China’s Wuhan province
A child wears a facemask at Daxing international airport in Beijing as he heads home for the Lunar New Year
DOCTOR INVESTIGATING OUTBREAK ADMITS HE HAS CAUGHT THE VIRUS
A leading Chinese doctor investigating the killer coronavirus yesterday admitted he has caught the SARS-like infection.
Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing’s Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.
‘I was diagnosed and my condition is fine,’ Dr Wang told Kong’s Cable TV. He said he is receiving treatment and will have an ‘injection’ soon.
Dr Guangfa is one of the national experts that previously said the pneumonia-causing virus, which has never been seen before, was under control.
Wang Guangfa has been infected with the new virus in China after being part of a team of doctors investigating it in Wuhan, where the virus emerged
The outbreak is believed to have started late last month among people connected to a seafood market in Wuhan, where all six fatalities have happened
Chinese quarantine workers wearing protective suits and masks are posted at an entrance to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan
DONALD TRUMP SAYS AMERICA HAS A PLAN TO CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS
Donald Trump says America has a plan to contain the spread of a deadly new virus from China after the first case was confirmed in the states.
The President, speaking at Davos in Switzerland where he is attending the World Economic Forum, praised the Centers for Disease Control and said the situation was being handled ‘very well’.
The first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Washington state on Tuesday when an unnamed man in his 30s was hospitalized after returning home from China.
An official uses an infrared thermometer on a traveler at a health screening checkpoint at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. Wuhan is at the centre of the outbreak
Staff in biohazard suits hold a metal stretcher by the in-patient department of Wuhan Medical Treatment Centre, where patients are being treated for the new coronavirus
Inside the epicentre of the deadly Chinese virus: First pictures show Wuhan doctors in hazmat suits treating patients who are struck down with the life-threatening infection
A Chinese hospital has released first pictures of doctors treating patients who have been struck down by a new deadly virus.
Images shared by the Central Hospital of Wuhan, where the virus originated, show medics donning hazmat suits attending to the sufferers at the hospital’s intensive care units.
The never-before-seen pictures were taken inside the intensive care units of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the hospital in Wuhan.
This picture released by the Central Hospital of Wuhan shows a medic donning full-body hazardous material suit looking after one patient who has been infected by a new deadly virus
Another medic in hazmat suit is seen checking the medical equipment inside the hospital’s intensive care units. Nine people have been killed by the virus since it emerged last month
Doctors at the Central Hospital of Wuhan clench their fists to show their determination to fight the virus. ‘Salute to the medical workers who fight on the front line!’ the hospital said in a post
The never-before-seen pictures were taken inside the intensive care units of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak
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