MP Nadine Dorries diagnosed with coronavirus
Junior UK health minister attended a recent reception in Downing Street with Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Junior UK health minister Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with conoravirus, raising pressure to tighten access to parliament as authorities ramp up preparations in anticipation of “many thousands” of cases at the epidemic’s peak.
Ms Dorries, who has placed herself in self-isolation, has met hundreds of people in Westminster over the past week and attended a recent reception in Downing Street with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Officials have been seeking to identify the names of everyone with whom Ms Dorries has come into contact in recent days.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “Really sorry to hear Nadine has tested positive for coronavirus. She has done the right thing by self isolating at home, and both NHS and PHE staff have been brilliant. We all wish her well as she recovers.”
Ms Dorries tweeted: “Thanks for so many good wishes. It’s been pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now. More worried about my 84yo mum who is staying with me and began with the cough today. She is being tested tomorrow. Keep safe and keep washing those hands, everyone.”
The number of cases in the UK rose by 54 to 373 on Tuesday, and the sixth British patient — a person with underlying health conditions who caught coronavirus in the UK — died of the disease.
Britain is increasing the number of coronavirus tests it processes by 500 per cent. The National Health Service and Public Health England will increase the number of coronavirus tests they process from 1,500 to 10,000 daily, the NHS announced on Wednesday, in a move it said will help patients seek treatment and self-quarantine more quickly.
Meanwhile, a match between Arsenal and Manchester City due to be played at the Etihad Stadium in London on Wednesday has become the first English Premier League match to be postponed due to concerns about coronavirus, with players forced into self-isolation after being in contact with a man who has contracted the virus.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the Premier League announced the match had been suspended as a “precautionary measure” as an unspecified number of Arsenal players met Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Greece’s Olympiakos, during a recent European match between the teams. Mr Marianakis announced earlier this week he has tested positive for Covid-19. Arsenal said a number of players and officials who came into contact with Mr Mariankis are in self-isolation at their homes for the recommended period of 14 days.
Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday that the disease would be likely to spread gradually at first, then “rise very rapidly” before finally receding when it “runs out” of people to infect.
“We will see many thousands of people infected by coronavirus; that’s what we’re seeing in other countries,” she said.
By Tuesday morning 26,261 people in the UK had been tested, the majority of whom were flagged as high risk after travelling through certain countries or being in touch with someone who had the virus.
The expansion of testing will allow the NHS and PHE to widen those criteria, “surveillance testing” people with symptoms in wards and surgeries as increasing numbers of patients test positive after being exposed within the UK.
The NHS said most tests were processed in 24 hours. Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service, said “wider testing is important as it will help to manage demand as the number of people being tested increases in the coming weeks.”
“This will ensure that PHE and the NHS have the most robust system possible to understand what is happening with the virus,” she added.
Boris Johnson said on Monday that the government was making “extensive preparations” to step up the response to the disease. But the prime minister is anxious to avoid creating panic and, acting on the advice of government medical experts, is opposed to closing schools, shutting down parliament and holding sports events in empty stadiums.
Officials say Britain is still in the “contain” phase of controlling the outbreak, focusing on isolating individual cases while preparing to shift to a strategy of delaying the spread should a wider epidemic become inevitable.
By contrast, the Italian government has placed the entire country under public health restrictions. All non-essential travel has been prohibited until the start of April.
Downing Street said on Tuesday that Italians arriving in the UK were being told to self-isolate. The government has reserved a hotel near Heathrow airport where people can stay, with Chinese and South Korean arrivals already self-isolating.
Officials suggested that, while they could not force people to stay at self-isolation facilities, “powers” were available to the authorities to take action if anyone deemed to be a threat to public health refused to follow medical advice.
A Number 10 spokesman said the “vast majority” had been following advice but added there were “steps which can be taken” in the event of a public health threat.
The government’s Cobra emergency committee is expected to hold two meetings this week to discuss the response.