Babak Belurs

Minggu, 01 Maret 2020

Coronavirus: Twelve more cases confirmed in England - BBC News

Twelve more patients in England have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of UK cases to 35.

Three patients were close contacts of a known case which was transmitted in the UK, chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said.

One person from Essex had "no relevant travel" and it was unclear how they had contracted the virus.

Out of the remaining eight cases, six had recently returned from Italy and two had been to Iran.

Prof Whitty said these patients were from London, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Bury Council confirmed that the Greater Manchester case was one of its residents, who had become infected in Italy.

On Friday, a man from Surrey became the first person to be infected within the UK.

The patient, who is being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in central London, had not been abroad recently - unlike the other cases in the country.

As of 09:00 GMT on Sunday, the Department of Health said a total of 11,750 people had been tested in the UK.

The latest positive tests come after three more cases were confirmed in England on Saturday.

One of those was a member of staff at St Mary's School in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, the primary school said on Sunday.

That follows another school - Willow Bank Infant School in Woodley, Berkshire - confirming that one of its staff had been infected.

The government has said no tactics will be "off the table" as part of its plan to contain the virus in the UK.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show an emergency "battle plan", drawn up for the "worst case scenario", includes banning big events, closing schools and dissuading people from using public transport.

Mr Hancock said there were four phases to the plan:

Containment - caring for any infected people and identifying their close contacts
Delay - deciding what actions to take to slow down the spread
Mitigation - damage limitation if the virus spreads widely
Research - constant and ongoing work to inform the three other phases

Currently, the UK is in the "containment" phase - which health leaders say may still be sufficient.

But the next phase could see broader "social distancing" measures.

Mr Hancock did not rule out following China's lead in shutting down cities if the outbreak escalates, but said there was "clearly a huge economic and social downside to that".

Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Mr Hancock must give more detail of any emergency powers he wants to bring in so that MPs "can properly scrutinise" the plans.

More than 200 British holidaymakers locked down at a quarantined hotel in Tenerife have been told they will be allowed to fly home, if they test negative for the virus.

The travellers have been quarantined at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel since Tuesday after four Italians contracted the virus. Some have already been allowed to leave but others are awaiting test results.

The Foreign Office is in contact with operators and travel agents about their plans to return Britons to the UK.

What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? A simple guide
WAYS TO PREVENT CATCHING IT: How to wash your hands
WHERE ARE WE WITH A VACCINE? Progress so far
A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE OUTBREAK: Virus maps and charts
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY HOLIDAY? Your rights as a traveller

Globally, around 86,000 people have been infected, with cases in more than 50 countries. About 3,000 people have died - the vast majority in China's Hubei province, where the outbreak originated in December.

In other developments:

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has tested negative for the virus. The Foreign Office said he self-isolated after feeling unwell this week - and has returned to work since the test result
In Paris, the Louvre museum did not open on Sunday. The museum said on Twitter a meeting was being held on the public health situation and "the museum cannot open at the moment".
Australia and Thailand recorded their first fatalities from the virus on Sunday. A 78-year-old Australian man died after being infected on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Thailand said the 35-year-old man who died of the virus had also been suffering from dengue fever
The leader of a religious sect in South Korea - which is facing the worst outbreak outside China - could face a homicide investigation over some of the country's deaths. Lee Man-hee is accused of hiding the names of some members as officials tried to track patients before the virus spread

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2020-03-01 13:50:09Z
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Home Office boss quits over 'campaign against him' - BBC News

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The top civil servant in the Home Office has resigned and said he intends to claim for constructive dismissal by the government.

Sir Philip Rutnam said there had been a "vicious and orchestrated" campaign against him in Home Secretary Priti Patel's office.

Reported tensions between the pair included claims she mistreated officials - which she has denied.

The prime minister has "full confidence in his cabinet", Downing Street said.

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Sir Philip's move was "highly unusual", adding: "I can't remember a senior public official taking a step like this."

Sir Philip said he received allegations that Ms Patel's conduct towards employees included "swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands".

He said that behaviour had "created fear and needed some bravery to call out".

It was his duty to "protect the health, safety and wellbeing" of 35,000 Home Office workers, he said, but that doing so had "created tension" between him and Ms Patel.

Sir Philip, who has had a career spanning 33 years, added he had attempted a "reconciliation" with Ms Patel but that she had "made no effort to engage with me to discuss this".

He said he believed his experience was "extreme" but part of a "wider pattern" in government.

Ms Patel has not yet commented on Sir Philip's statement.

Sir Mark Sedwill, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, thanked Sir Philip for his "long and dedicated career of public service" and said Shona Dunn, who had been Mr Rutnam's deputy, will become acting permanent secretary.

He said he received the resignation "with great regret", adding: "The Home Office's vital work to keep our citizens safe and our country secure continues uninterrupted."

It comes days after the home secretary and Sir Philip released a joint statement saying they were "deeply concerned" by various "false allegations" made about Ms Patel.

Allegations the pair dismissed included reports that Ms Patel, who has been home secretary since Boris Johnson became prime minister, bullied her staff and was not trusted by MI5 bosses.

But in a statement given to BBC News, Sir Philip said: "In the last 10 days, I have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign."

He said allegations that he had briefed the media against the home secretary were among many "completely false" claims against him.

Sir Philip said he did not believe Ms Patel's denial of any involvement in the false claims, adding that she had not "made the efforts I would expect to dissociate herself from the comments".

Sir Philip's departure, and the manner of it, goes way beyond any normal policy problems or clashes.

He took aim not just at Priti Patel, but alluded to what he said was a "wider pattern" in government.

Add this to the resignation of Sajid Javid, the former chancellor who expressed concerns about how the government is behaving, there is mounting evidence of unhappiness with how Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his team are running things.

Certainly it is a government in a hurry, willing to rattle cages in order to get things done.

But governments who want to get things done need an effective civil service to make things happen. A very public breakdown in trust like this does not help that cause.

Indications at this early stage are that Ms Patel's position is secure. But with an employment tribunal in the offing, pressure may well build in the coming weeks.

If Sir Philip pursues his case as he says he will, exactly what happened behind closed doors may soon be out there for all to see.

Coronavirus: Three more people test positive in England - BBC News

Three more people from England have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of UK cases to 23.

Two of the patients had recently returned from Italy, while the other had come back from Asia, chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said.

The cases are from Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire.

An infant school in Berkshire has issued a statement saying one of its members of staff had tested positive for the virus.

Willowbank Infant School, in Woodley, tweeted: "We understand that this will worry many of you, and can reassure you that we have taken advice from Public Health England.

It added: "The school will be shut for some days to allow for a deep clean and to ensure that the risks of infection remain low."

It comes as health officials try to discover how a man from Surrey caught the virus, after he became the first person to be infected within the UK.

The man, who is being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in central London, had not been abroad recently - unlike the other cases in the UK.

Officials are trying to trace people who had contact with him. Haslemere Health Centre, which he had attended, has now reopened after "deep cleaning".

A pub in Haslemere, called the Prince of Wales, also closed for a deep clean as "a precautionary measure". A sign outside the pub said that "a customer who visited us has tested positive for coronavirus".

Ten more cases of the virus in the UK in just over two days might raise eyebrows, but health officials say all but one can be easily explained because the patients have travelled from the most affected countries, including Northern Italy and Iran.

Since the first UK cases were confirmed in York - two Chinese nationals - positive tests have been recorded in the south of England, Derbyshire, south Wales and Northern Ireland.

Of potential concern is the case in Surrey, a man who had not travelled abroad.

Public health officials are tracing his contacts to see if his infection can be explained by another individual who has arrived in the UK from abroad.

The government is next week expected to publish emergency legislation to help tackle the virus.

The package of measures would be designed to help the public sector - such as the NHS and schools - cope with a serious rise in cases.

There are few details about what the measures could involve - but school class sizes in England is one area which would be addressed. They would be permitted to rise above statutory limits, in the event of widespread teacher absences.

Health minister Edward Argar told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "any responsible government" would have "contingency planning" in place, but added the government was "entirely focused on making containment work".

He said the contingency plans "are not needed at the moment".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said the virus outbreak was now a top priority, will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee on Monday.

He had faced criticism from Labour, who said he needed to "get a grip" on the situation and questioned why he was waiting until next week to hold the meeting.

Downing Street said the prime minister had spoken to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Prof Whitty, the chief medical officer, on Saturday and was receiving regular updates.

"Everything possible is being done to limit the spread and make sure government departments and public services are prepared," Downing Street added.

As of 09:00 GMT on Saturday, more than 10,000 people in the UK had been tested for coronavirus.

In other recent developments:

The Foreign Office has called on Iran to "immediately allow" health officials to examine Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said he suspected she had the virus but said prison staff were refusing to test her
Meanwhile, conspiracy theories and false medical advice are becoming a problem in Iran - the country has seen more fatalities than anywhere else outside China
The Republic of Ireland has confirmed its first case. Health officials said the man, from the eastern part of the country, was associated with travel from an affected area in northern Italy
People who had been in close contact with the first person to test positive for the virus in Northern Ireland have all been notified, officials say
"Drive-through" test centres for the virus have opened in Antrim and Edinburgh
Fear of the virus wiped £200bn off UK firms' value as London's FTSE 100 share index saw one of its worst weeks since the 2008 financial crisis
Online supermarket Ocado has seen a spike in demand. The company told the BBC that shoppers were placing "particularly large orders" - and suggested customers place orders further in advance than usual
President Donald Trump says the first person in the US to die from coronavirus was a medically high-risk woman in her late 50s
France has temporarily banned gatherings of more than 5,000 people "in confined spaces" as it reported a jump in cases
And South Korea recorded its largest increase in coronavirus infections in a single day on Friday- bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,150

People should wash their hands thoroughly, and carry a tissue to sneeze or cough into to reduce the spread of the virus, according to public health advice.

Of the case in Surrey, the Department of Health said the virus was passed on in the UK but the original source was "unclear" and there was no "immediately identifiable link" to overseas travel.

Dr Nathalie MacDermott, from King's College London, told the Today programme it was "alarming" because it becomes more difficult to contain the virus when it is not clear who patients have been infected by.

But she added the government's "worst case scenario" planning should not be a source of concern.

"It's important that we all prepare for the worst but that we don't necessarily panic and assume the worst," she said.

What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? A simple guide
WAYS TO PREVENT CATCHING IT: How to wash your hands
WHERE ARE WE WITH A VACCINE? Progress so far
A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE OUTBREAK: Virus maps and charts
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY HOLIDAY? Your rights as a traveller

Meanwhile, a man has tested positive for coronavirus at a quarantined hotel in Tenerife.

He is one of a group of Italian holidaymakers from which the first four cases at the Costa Adeje Palace emerged. Those cases led the hotel to go into lockdown earlier this week.

At least six British guests are among 53 guests to have left the hotel after days of isolation.

The guests were considered "low risk" because they arrived after infected people had left the hotel.

The BBC's Fiona Trott said some of the other Britons at the hotel have received a letter from the Foreign Office telling them they will be tested for Covid-19.

The letter added British travellers at the hotel were assessed to be low risk, following a visit by Public Health England.

Airline Jet2 has said it would only fly passengers back to the UK if they had completed a 14-day quarantine at the hotel, or tested negative for the virus.

In addition to the Haslemere patient, three other cases of the virus were confirmed in the UK on Friday, including the first one in Wales.

Public Health Wales said it was working to identify close contacts of the Welsh patient, who is believed to be from the Swansea area and was infected in northern Italy before returning to the UK.

The World Health Organization has raised its global risk assessment of the virus to its top level, "very high".

Globally, more than 83,000 people have been infected, with cases in more than 50 countries. More than 2,800 have died - the vast majority in China's Hubei province, where the outbreak originated in December.

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2020-03-01 08:54:19Z
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