Public Health England medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle suspects there could now be cases of coronavirus in the United Kingdom but emphasised the country is well prepared for an outbreak, and the former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt hinted Brits could be airlifted out of quarantined cities in China to evade the lethal virus.
Jeremy Hunt further stated that the NHS is well-equipped to deal with patients returning with the virus but predicted it could stretch the health service.
At this time of the year, it becomes a particularly challenging time for the NHS, and usually, the NHS is really experienced when having to cope with these kinds of emergencies. Sadly, we’re well over-stretched with not enough doctors and nurses to dispense with another crisis, that will clearly have a knock-on effect on other NHS services.
It’s going to be extremely challenging for the NHS in terms of the daily workload that they have but there is no doubt that when it comes down to it, they will do what’s needed to quarantine the virus and keep the country safe, and the Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the Government is looking at all possibilities to help Britons leave Wuhan.
More than 50 people have been tested for coronavirus in the United Kingdom and according to the Department of Health (DoH), all tests have returned negative, and the prevailing danger to the public remains low and that they’re continuing to monitor the situation closely.
The Foreign Office updated its guidance to advise against all travel to the Hubei province, which has been locked down as China attempts to contain the illness, but the guidance further added that if people were in this area and able to leave, they should do so, this is due to the continuing novel coronavirus outbreak.
There’s a good possibility that cases will appear in Britain as the overall number reported around the world rises to about 2,744 including 80 deaths, which have all happened in China, and Britons trapped in the Chinese province at the centre of the outbreak have been asked to the leave the area if they’re able to do so.
A pair of British teachers who have been working in Wuhan said that they’ve not left their residence for days and that all transportation has been suspended and that there’s no place to go and so they’re pretty much stuck.
Jason Neal and Sophie Hunt told BBC Breakfast there has been no reassurance from the British authorities whom they have struggled to contact, probably because of the time variation and them being closed over the weekend.
They have about five days of food left and are keeping in touch with colleagues online while the view outside is now like a ghost town, and at the moment the news is to just sit tight, but the silence is disconcerting, and they’ve not heard anything from outside of Wuhan for a week now.
There is a support group for people who may require help and to get masks and some volunteers are going out to make deliveries, and emailing and attempting to ring the authorities has just brought a hopeless automated reply back from the embassy, telling people not to go into the area.
Chinese authorities have locked down the city and all that people keep hearing is that the death toll is accelerating every day and all that people can do is sit tight and wait for more news, and even though it’s difficult being stuck there, it’s the safest possible option for people at the moment.
Thousands of people have been contaminated with the flu-like virus, with a surprisingly extended number of Chinese sightseers across Europe right now, and unless the Chinese manage to control this, and it’s doubtful whether that’s possible, we will get cases in the United Kingdom.
Spectators celebrated the Chinese New Year in central London, which marked the start of the Year of the Rat, but the authorities in China have cancelled a multitude of celebrations marking the New Year as they increased their measures against the virus.
Jeremy Hunt said he wants to airlift UK citizens trapped in Wuhan, but for the sake of everyone, he should have insisted that every one of them be kept under stringent quarantine until we know that they’re not affected and not to do so would be very irresponsible, and not only that, planes travel in daily from China, so we can expect to see some cases here and the only way to stop this would be to ban all flights.
Perhaps Jeremy Hunt and his boss can release funds, from their magic money tree forest, and bolster the NHS back to what it should be.
Then get cracking to hound tax avoiders/evaders/cheats for the billions of £ owed.
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