UK coronavirus victim infected five more Britons at French ski resort
The five were diagnosed with the virus after sharing lodgings with a fellow Briton who had apparently caught it in Singapore.
Sunday 9 February 2020 07:42, UK
Five Britons, including a nine-year-old child, who were staying in a chalet at a French ski resort have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
They tested positive after sharing lodgings in Les Contamines-Montjoie with a man who is believed to have contracted the disease in Singapore, said France's health ministry.
He is a fellow Briton who was in the Alpine village in late January and later confirmed to have the virus after returning to the UK.
The man is now being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, Sky News understands, and is the third confirmed case in Britain.
All five new victims in France were part of a group of 11 Britons who were in the same chalet.
They were taken to hospital overnight in the Savoie region and are not in a serious condition.
The six other people who came into contact with the virus carrier were also taken to hospitals in Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble.
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There were three children in the group of 11. Among them was a nine-year-old child who recently spent time in a school in Les Contamines-Montjoie - a mountain village of which he was also a resident.
French authorities will close two schools next week in the area near the ski resort.
The British national who is thought to have infected the five in France was in Singapore on 20-23 January, then stayed in the area in eastern France for four days from 24 January, before returning to England on 28 January.
The man is thought to have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Brighton, where it has emerged that a school student has been told to self-isolate for 14 days.
In a message sent to parents, the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy said the pupil was staying at home and that the school would be notified should they start to present symptoms.
In nearby Hove, meanwhile, several members of staff at a pub have been advised to "self-isolate" after it emerged the British man with coronavirus visited their premises about a week ago before becoming unwell.
A spokesperson for the Grenadier pub told Sky News: "We are following the advice and working closely with Public Health England who have advised us that there is minimal ongoing risk of infection to either guests or staff, and as such the pub remains open for business as usual."
Singapore authorities are looking into a business congress that took place in a hotel last month, which was attended by 94 foreigners. The British man who has tested positive for coronavirus had travelled to that meeting.
A UK company called Servomex has said a number of its workers in different countries have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and are now being treated.
Need a catch-up? Here's the latest on the coronavirus:
- The global number of deaths is 813. Some 811 were in China, including a Japanese man and a US citizen, and one in the Philippines and Hong Kong
- The toll exceeds the 774 killed by the SARS epidemic in 2003
- More than 37,000 people have been infected by coronavirus around the world, almost all in China
- British citizens being flown back from Wuhan on Sunday will be quarantined for a fortnight at a facility at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes
- A British family of four is being tested in Majorca after coming into contact with a coronavirus sufferer in France
- Thousands remain stranded on cruise ships docked in Japan and Hong Kong
- The World Health Organisation warns of a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective gear
- A WHO-led international team investigating the outbreak will leave for China on Monday or Tuesday
Some 81 new fatalities have been recorded in Hubei province in China, where Wuhan - the sprawling city where the infection was first reported after Christmas - is located.
There are three confirmed cases in the UK.
They are a man believed to have caught the virus in Singapore and two people who were diagnosed in York and are now at a specialist hospital unit in Newcastle.
Other British cases have been reported abroad, including a passenger, Alan Steele, 58, on the stranded Diamond Princess cruise ship which has been quarantined off the coast of Japan.
About 3,700 passengers and crew are being kept at the port city of Yokohama, about 25 miles from Tokyo, with the operator Princess Cruises hoping the quarantine will end on 19 February barring "unforeseen developments".
An evacuation flight out of Wuhan will land in the UK on Sunday carrying more than 200 passengers.
The second and final flight to be chartered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office left Wuhan at 3.20am local time on Sunday, carrying Britons and other nationalities.
The plane, with British government staff and military medics on board, is expected to arrive at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at around 7.20am.
South Central Ambulance Service said Kents Hill Park, a conference centre and hotel, will be used to house the returnees and they will remain there in isolation for 14 days.
The ambulance service said the presence of the group in Milton Keynes does not present a risk to local people.
Everyone boarding the plane in Wuhan will be assessed and will continue to be monitored after landing in the UK.
Anyone displaying symptoms would not have been permitted to board the plane.