ALL people travelling to the UK from Italy who show symptoms have been told to self-isolate, as the first UK death from coronavirus has been confirmed.
The advice goes further than previous guidance which required people travelling from specific areas in Northern Italy to self-isolate.
The Department for Health and Social Care has now said all people coming to the UK from Italy are to put themselves into quarantine if they exhibit symptoms - regardless of how mild - as fears around the virus grow.
Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England said: “The situation in Italy means that we have decided it is prudent at this point to move from a geographical area of north Italy… to a geographical situation for all of Italy.
“The pattern of what people do is exactly the same as before.
“It’s about people from those areas, except for the cities which the Italian government specifies in lockdown, all other areas, only people who have got symptoms need to self-isolate.”
READ MORE: Coronavirus confirmed in Greater Glasgow as contact tracing underway to stop outbreak
One person in Britain has now died of the virus, with the number of confirmed cases sitting at 115 as of this morning.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary tweeted his sympathies for the Berkshire woman who became the first UK fatality earlier tonight.
Terribly sad news today that a patient with underlying health conditions has died with coronavirus in Reading. My sincere condolences to their family and loved ones.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 5, 2020
We will work tirelessly to protect the public from this disease.
At 9am today, 18,083 people have been tested in the UK.
Speaking to reporters, Boris Johnston said: “In something like this, what the scientists say is you’ve got a range of things that you can do to arrest or check the spread of a disease."
“But you can’t fire your shots too early, it’s all about the timing and the progression.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here