Tests on 14 suspected UK coronavirus patients come back negative

Tests for coronavirus on 14 people in the UK have come back negative but there are checks ongoing on other people, according to the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty.

Speaking after the Government held crisis talks on the threat, Professor Chris Whitty said: “COBRA met today to discuss the situation in Wuhan, China, and elsewhere in Asia.

“I am working closely with the other UK Chief Medical Officers. We all agree that the risk to the UK public remains low, but there may well be cases in the UK at some stage.

"We have tried and tested measures in place to respond. The UK is well prepared for these types of incidents, with excellent readiness against infectious diseases.

“There are no confirmed cases in the UK to date. We have been carefully monitoring the situation in Wuhan, China, since the beginning of the outbreak and are now implementing our planned response."

He added: “A Public Health hub will be set up in Heathrow from today. This consists of clinicians and other public health officials, in addition to existing port health measures.

“The World Health Organization has rightly responded quickly and China has introduced strong public health measures.”

It comes as a Chicago woman became the second US patient diagnosed with the new pneumonia-like virus from China, health officials announced.

The 60-year-old woman returned from China on January 13 without showing any signs of illness, but a few days later she called her doctor to report feeling sick.

Doctors with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the woman is in hospital to prevent spread of the coronavirus and is doing well, and people she had close contact with are being monitored.

As the infection crisis escalated in China, Professor Paul Cosford, medical director at Public Health England, said it was “highly likely” that the virus would reach the UK.

No cases of the deadly virus, which can be fatal, have yet been confirmed in the UK.

The Cobra meeting, chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, was called to urgently ensure precautionary measures are in place to deal with the virus if it does spread to Britain.

Medical experts were at every UK airport today and information on the virus is being given to passengers returning from China.

Education ministers and others were attending the Whitehall meeting, amid concerns over the return of students to the UK around the Chinese New Year.

Universities were being put on alert over how to respond to the infection threat.

Professor Cosford told the BBC that he “will not be surprised” if people come back from China to the UK with the virus.

He added: “It’s highly likely that we will have cases in the UK — and of course every so often we do get new infections coming from the animal kingdom such as this one.”