a third case of coronavirus the patient
being treated here and a specialist unit
inside st. Thomas's Hospital in London
it's no surprise the virus is fast
spreading and more cases here in the UK
were expected but this time there is a
significant development they acquired it
in Asia but not in China and at the
moment the great majority of the cases
in the world are still in China the
great majority there are a few in other
countries and our view is because of
that is probably now prudent to slightly
widen the geographical area where
firstly doctors in the UK in the NHS
know that they should test people the
patient's identity is being closely
protected we know very little about
exactly where and how they came into
contact with the virus but we do know
one thing that there's no connection
between this latest case and the other
two known cases a student from York
University and a family member were
identified last week after staying at
this hotel they are known to have
contracted the virus in China
now the advice to NHS doctors and all
frontline staff will have to be updated
in the past they've only had to worry
about people who have travelled from
Wuhan
in China or who have been in contact
with people who have traveled to that
region now they'll have a much wider
geographical region to deal with the
analyst now includes China Thailand
Japan the Republic of Korea Hong Kong
Taiwan Singapore Malaysia and Macau the
Chinese are sensitive to criticism
accusations that they're withholding
information or are downplaying the
number of infected and dead China's
ambassador to Britain urged Western
countries to stop creating unnecessary
panic hope that the governments of all
countries including the UK should
understand and support China's efforts
respect the professional advice of top
new h:o
China is sharing more information than
it did during the deadly 2003 SARS
outbreak but it's not officially
confirming the death of dr. Lee wen
Liang who was one of the first to warn
of the dangers of this outbreak at the
end of December he was silenced by
authorities and forced to return to work
where he caught the virus from a patient
his death adding to the number of
fatalities rising daily we don't know
the source of the outbreak we don't know
what its natural reservoir is and we
don't properly understand its
transmissibility or severity to defeat
this outbreak we need answers to all
those questions we are learning more
about the virus but much remains unknown
pictures like this of medics and hazmat
suits taking away a patient suspected of
having corona virus in York will do
little to ease nerves in the city and
elsewhere the patient later tested
negative now the government is stressing
once again that its plans are robust and
the country is fully prepared to deal
with this epidemic
Ashish Joshi Sky News