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CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
Scout leader suspected of being ‘super-spreader’ who infected 11 other Brits with deadly coronavirus on skiing holiday
A SCOUT leader is suspected of being the “super-spreader” who infected 11 other Brits with deadly coronavirus on a skiing holiday, The Sun can reveal.
They include two NHS GPs who are feared to have passed the contamination on to their patients in Brighton.
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The medics were among four new cases confirmed yesterday — a woman and three men — all of whom shared an Alps holiday chalet with the super-spreader.
The married Brighton businessman picked up the virus in Singapore during a work conference in January.
Days later, he then passed it on to pals during a France ski trip.
Five Brits are now in isolation in three separate hospitals.
TOLL DOUBLES IN 24 HOURS
Another is in hospital in Spain and five more are being treated at specialist wards in London.
It means the total number of people infected in the UK has doubled in 24 hours to eight.
A source who knows the dad-of-one super-spreader said: “I know he was in Singapore because I was aware he was attending a conference.
“After that was done, he went to the chalet in France via Geneva, which is an hour away, and he stayed there for a week.
“After spending five days at the chalet, he took an easyJet flight home to Gatwick and went back to Brighton.”
A Scout Association spokesman last night could not confirm whether one of its 640,000 members had contracted the virus.
Experts say health bosses must now reveal more about the movements of the super-spreader.
Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, said: “Patient confidentiality is important but we may now be at the point where the public’s need to know more information is greater.
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Runaways curb
By Andy Jehring
POLICE have been handed unprecedented new powers to use handcuffs and tasers to forcibly return coronavirus patients to quarantine.
Officers can now legally detain high-risk patients after one threatened to storm out of Arrowe Park Hospital on The Wirral, Merseyside.
A security guard said: “One patient got drunk and threatened to leave.”
And they will also be allowed to hunt and capture people if they may be infected. The new law was rushed through yesterday. The NHS have two quarantine sites, the other is in Milton Keynes, Bucks.
The Health department yesterday declared the coronavirus outbreak a serious threat to the public.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We are taking every possible step.”
“It would be helpful to know if he got a taxi straight home or got a bus and stopped off at the supermarket.
"Letting the public know this timeline will reassure many that they are not at risk.”
Dr Andrew Freedman, an expert in infectious diseases at Cardiff University, added: “It does appear the index case has passed on the infection to an unusually large number of contacts.
“As such, he could be termed a ‘super-spreader’.
“This may occur as a result of someone being infectious despite having few or no symptoms, meaning they are unaware they have the infection.
“It can also result from someone coming into close contact with an unusually large number of people or someone carrying a larger than normal quantity of the virus.”
Patient confidentiality is important but we may now be at the point where the public’s need to know more information is greater.
Professor Paul Hunter
The World Health Organisation warned the case is of huge concern.
Director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it could “be the spark that becomes a bigger fire”.
Health officials are desperately trying to trace a “small number” of sick folk in contact with the two GPs, thought to work at Brighton’s County Oak medical centre, who have the coronavirus.
Public Health England medical director Yvonne Doyle said: “We are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage we believe this to be a relatively small number.”
DEATH TOLL OVER 900
A Southampton school was evacuated yesterday after pupils who previously went to South East Asia developed symptoms.
Meanwhile in France, a third school attended by the nine-year-old son of ski chalet owner Bob Sawyer was told to close.
Mr Sawyer and his son both have the coronavirus.
There have been more than 40,000 cases globally, while the death toll in China — the epicentre of the outbreak — stands at 908.
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A new study claims people can carry the virus for up to 24 days before symptoms appear.
British Airways has extended a ban of flights serving Beijing and Shanghai until March 31.
A spokesman said: “Safety is at the heart of everything we do.”
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Deadline in China
CORONAVIRUS may be killing up to one in five people at the centre of the outbreak who catch it, a study suggests.
The “case fatality ratio” (CFR) for people in Hubei Province is 18 per cent.
Outside China it is between 1.2 and 5.6 per cent, researchers from Imperial College London found.
Variations in diagnosis and care across countries are likely to account for the different outcomes. The figures could also change as health chiefs collect better data on cases, deaths and recovery.
Professor Neil Ferguson said the estimates did not “reflect underlying differences in disease severity between countries.
“All CFR estimates should be viewed cautiously as the sensitivity of surveillance of both deaths and cases in mainland China is unclear,” he said.
There are now more than 40,500 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide, with over 900 deaths.
Coronavirus closes GP practice as staff member tests positive in Brighton
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