Coronavirus news – live: UK hospitals instructed to create secure pods for patients as emergency Cobra meeting called

Newborn infant diagnosed just 30 hours after birth

Timelapse video shows China's emergency coronavirus hospital built within 10 days

Coronavirus could be capable of passing from a mother to her baby inside the womb, doctors fear, after a newborn tested positive for the disease just 30 hours after birth.

It came as cruise ship passengers were quarantined in Japan after 10 people aboard were found to be infected with coronavirus. Some 3,700 passengers and crew are now locked down on the Diamond Princess, including a number of Britons.

Hundreds of people are being held aboard another cruise ship in Hong Kong, where medical staff are demanding leader Carrie Lam completely close the border with China.

In the UK, The Independent can exclusively reveal that NHS hospitals have been ordered to create secure coronavirus testing areas to keep pressure off A&E departments.

While the professor leading the NHS’s coronavirus response claimed the measures were “appropriate” to ensure daily services were not affected, Dr Bharat Pankhania at the University of Exeter said the pods “could raise the risk of infection” as a result of “all sorts of issues about ventilation and air clearance”.

In the letter obtained by this paper, NHS 2019-nCoV lead, Professor Keith Willet, said the pods would need to be decontaminated in line with Public Health England guidance after every patient.

Please allow a moment for the blog to load

Key Points

• Newborn baby infected
• Olympics chief fears impact of virus
• Final evacuation flight for Britons
• Hong Kong in further clampdown

[5 February 2020 08:10 · Jon Sharman]

Second ship

Hong Kong is testing some 1,800 passengers and crew aboard a cruise ship and is not allowing anyone to disembark without permission.

The World Dream ship, operated by Dream Cruises, was denied entry in the southern Taiwan port of Kaohsiung on Tuesday. On Monday, the ship visited Taiwan's Keelung port.

[5 February 2020 08:16 · Jon Sharman]

Emotional toll

A Hong Kong man who is aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship - quarantined in Yokohama, Japan - has told of his fears for the quarantine period.

The 43-year-old is in a windowless cabin with his wife and son, he told Reuters. "I am not looking forward to the range of emotions in the next two weeks," he said. "Will deal as they come."

[5 February 2020 08:22 · Jon Sharman]

Health secretary makes first TV appearance since outbreak

Matt Hancock says the government is "taking no chances" with the virus.

 

[5 February 2020 08:28 · Jon Sharman]

Oil woes

The tentacles of the coronavirus have embraced the oil market, and Opec seems set to decide on an emergency cut in oil production to offset a collapse in demand from China, writes Hamish McRae.

The oil market gives a snapshot of what is happening to the world economy, and in particular to world trade. Airlines cutting their flights to China have an immediate impact on aircraft fuel, but that is just an early sign of wider pressure.

If factories in China shut down production, they will use less power. Many products use petroleum as a feedstock. If fewer goods are being produced, fewer ships will be needed to carry those goods around the world. So demand for bunker fuel declines.

[5 February 2020 08:35 · Jon Sharman]

Russia repatriations

Russia has repatriated its first batch of citizens from Wuhan.

A group of 78 people flew to a camp in Siberia where they will be quarantined for two weeks.

In all, Russia plans to bring back 144 people, including 16 nationals of ex-Soviet countries, from China's Hubei province, where the virus was first detected late last year. A second military plane is due to land in Tyumen later in the day.

[5 February 2020 08:43 · Jon Sharman]

Get out if you can

Amid the growing coronavirus outbreak, the Foreign Office is now warning: “If you’re in China and able to leave, you should do so. The elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions may be at heightened risk.”

British citizens have plenty of options for leaving the People’s Republic, writes Simon Calder. These are the key questions and answers.

[5 February 2020 08:51 · Jon Sharman]

Malaysian infections

Two Malaysian citizens flown back from Wuhan have tested positive for coronavirus, the nation says. Twelve people there are now infected.

Malaysia sent a flight to Wuhan on Monday to bring back more than 100 of its citizens who were stranded.

[5 February 2020 08:52 · Jon Sharman]

New Hong Kong total

There are 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Hong Kong, the city's leader Carrie Lam has said.

[5 February 2020 09:04 · Jon Sharman]

A man onboard a flight falsely claimed he had coronavirus, forcing the plane to turn around, writes Helen Coffey.

The WestJet service had been en route to Montego Bay, Jamaica, from Toronto, Canada, when the 29-year-old Canadian national announced he had the deadly virus, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 400 people.

“A male was causing a disturbance on the flight, saying he had been to China and had the coronavirus,” a police spokeswoman told Reuters.

[5 February 2020 09:10 · Jon Sharman]

Recoveries

It remains the case that far more people have recovered from coronavirus than have died. The tally stands at 942 recoveries against 493 deaths, according to a tracker run by the elite John Hopkins University.