The UK has declared the Coronavirus as a “serious and imminent threat to public health”. British scientists predicted that the epidemic could prospectively affect 80% of the population and that everyone is susceptible to being infected.
With the two healthcare professionals that tested positive, the count for infected Britons has gone up to eight. The recent “super-spreader”, a middle-aged businessman, is said to have caused the spread in all the latest cases. He allegedly caught the virus during a conference in Singapore, after which he visited a resort in the Alps, during which he is said to have spread it to 11 Britons.
In an attempt to contain the epidemic, the government has given unprecedented powers to the police to isolate those suspected of being infected. This comes after 93 quarantined Britons threatened to abscond from the isolation facilities in The Arrowe Park Hospital. The police will now be allowed to use reasonable force and detain those suspected of contamination for 14 days. The government has assured citizens that any such forced isolation will be done in consultation with the country’s chief medical officer.
The British Health Ministry has released a statement saying that “[w]e are strengthening our regulations so we can keep individuals in supported isolation for their own safety and if public health professionals consider they may be at risk of spreading the virus to other members of the public”.
As of 11 February, 1,114 tests have been carried out in the UK. The Arrowe Park Hospital, near Liverpool in Northern England, and Kent’s Hill Park in Milton Keynes are being used as isolation facilities.
Image Source: The New York Times