IT'S SPREADING
Another UK coronavirus patient tests positive in England bringing total to four
A FOURTH patient in the UK has today tested positive for coronavirus amid fears the deadly bug is spreading.
Health officials confirmed the patient contracted the virus from another British case in France, and is now being treated in London.
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Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said the patient was being transferred to a specialist NHS centre at The Royal Free Hospital.
And the hunt is now on for any others who may have had contact with the confirmed cases.
He said: "Experts at Public Health England continue to work hard tracing patient contacts from the UK cases. They successfully identified this individual and ensured the appropriate support was provided."
It is understood the fourth case was contracted from a Brit businessman who was confirmed with the bug in Brighton this week, having recently travelled to a ski chalet in France.
The man, believed to be in his late 40s or early 50s, caught the virus in Singapore before flying to France before presenting at the Brighton A&E days later.
The man came into contact with 11 people in the Alpine ski resort of Contamines-Montjoie near Mont Blanc, with the group now in hospital.
Five Brits - including a nine-year-old boy - are now among those to have contracted the bug at the French resort.
Bob Saynor, 48, and his nine-year-old son have been named locally as being at the centre of the outbreak in the village of Les Contamines-Montjoie near Megeve.
Meanwhile, two Chinese nationals in York tested positive for the virus more than a week ago.
Coronavirus has now claimed more lives than the 2003 SARS outbreak as the global death toll climbed to more than 800 yesterday with more than 37,000 confirmed cases.
CORONAVIRUS IN THE UK
HEALTH officials have confirmed a number of cases of coronavirus in the UK in the past two weeks.
So exactly how many Brits have been infected?
How many cases are there in Britain?
Four.
The first two cases involved two Chinese nationals in York.
A few days later, a British man in Brighton also tested positive.
The fourth case was announced on February 9, with the unknown person treated in London.
How many Brits are involved?
There are eight confirmed cases involving Brits.
The man who tested positive in Brighton, as well as five cases in France.
A father in Majorca has also contracted the virus, while one case is in Japan.
A Brit dad was also quarantined in a Majorca hospital yesterday after testing positive.
And Spanish authorities appeared to confirm the case was again linked to the French ski chalet.
Fernando Simon, the director of the Spanish Ministry’s of Health’s Centre For Health Coordination and Emergencies said: "He was in contact with a confirmed case in a French ski resort.
Local authorities confirmed yesterday the British expat, who is 46 and lives in Marratxi near Palma, had sought help after coming into contact in France with someone later diagnosed with coronavirus.
It comes after the second and final flight evacuating Brits from ground zero Wuhan arrived from China this morning.
More than 200 evacuees landed at RAF Brize Norton - now expected to be quarantined for 14 days in Milton Keynes.
And a leading expert today warned Britain could suffer a major outbreak of the killer bug, leading to a pandemic.
Professor Peter Piot, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said he was becoming “increasingly alarmed” by the continued spread of the virus.
He also told he believes the deadly strain now poses even more danger than ebola.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) currently considers the coronavirus outbreak to be an epidemic.
If it is eventually named a pandemic - a new disease that is spreading globally - it would be the first in more than a decade.
MOST READ IN NEWS
UK officials are now "ratcheting up" health advice to cover travellers from seven more countries outside China - Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau and Hong Kong.
England's top doctor said if anyone has been to those nations recently and falls ill should self-isolate and call NHS 111.
Until now, this advice only related to people from Wuhan in China.
Five Brits including a child diagnosed with coronavirus at a ski chalet in France after one travelled from Singapore
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