Chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, has announced the Coronavirus UK debut, with the first two patients currently in a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) unit in Newcastle.
Although the name of the hospital has not been officially announced, it’s going to be Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), which is one of four places in the country with HCID equipment.
No details about the identities of the patients have been released, but the assumption is that they traveled from China recently. An investigation team is checking up on everyone who was in contact with the patients.
According to the BBC, 213 people in China have died so far, with up to 10,000 cases across their nation.
What is Corona Virus 2019 nCoV?
Video courtesy of: Future Doc House
A medical student explains the new novel virus originating in Wuhan, China and has gone onto becoming a global health issue.
Professor Whitty was quoted on the NHS being “extremely well-prepared for managing infections … We have been preparing for UK cases of novel coronavirus and we have robust infection control measures in place to respond immediately,”
Professor Chris Whitty is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession.
Reassuringly, he said that the most likely outcome will be that “A lot of people will end up with a relatively minor disease”, and those who do develop acute symptoms “will be dealt with as anyone else with a respiratory disease,” at one of the four HCID units.
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