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
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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.
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UK to feel economic effects
Companies around the have warned that the coronavirus outbreak could seriously impact their supply chains and stop products reaching consumers.
UK shoppers could be impacted as the virus halts factory production, forces retail closures and causes airlines to suspend flights.
City analysts have said sectors like technology, car production and retail could be put under pressure in the coming months if the outbreak does not rapidly dissipate.
Hong Kong quarantine details
Hong Kong's 14-day quarantine on all travellers from mainland China is to take effect from Saturday and will apply to residents of the city, Carrie Lam has said.
Hong Kong day travellers will have until the weekend to make necessary arrangements.
The city's government is also seeking new locations for quarantine facilities to add to the three camps it is currently using.
A Cobra meeting called by Matt Hancock should be underway, with representatives from the Foreign Office, Department of Health, and other health experts in attendance.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast earlier, the health secretary said the government was "taking no chances" with the outbreak.
WHO reports largest jump in new cases as it requests £520m to fight virus
The director general of the World Health Organisation asked for the vast sum to help countries address the expected spread of the virus.
Acknowledging the seemingly large cost, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted it is "much less than the bill we will face if we do not invest in preparedness now".
Mr Tedros said that in the last 24 hours, the UN health agency has seen the biggest jump in cases since the start of the outbreak.
He also responded to published comments from John Mackenzie, a member of the WHO's coronavirus emergency committee, that China's initial response to the outbreak was "reprehensible" and that cases were not rapidly reported.
Mr Tedros said he would have expected higher numbers of cases if China had been hiding them. Addressing speculation about any mistakes in the early stages of the outbreak, he added: "I don't think it helps now. Let's take the action we can take today to prevent this outbreak from spreading all over the world."
Some 350 Americans evacuated from Wuhan
Two planes carrying US citizens have arrived at a California military base in California and will be quarantined for 14 days, the US Defence Department says.
KGO television showed footage of people in white coverall suits getting off the plane in the predawn darkness at Travis Air Force Base.
"A safety cordon will be established, away from residential housing, to ensure the Travis mission can safely continue, the privacy of the evacuees can be enforced," the defence department said.
11 cases have been confirmed so far in the US, including two person-to-person transmissions. The Trump administration declared a public health emergency on Friday and announced it would bar the entry of foreign nationals who have recently visited China and imposing a mandatory two-week quarantine for travelers from China's most affected province of Hubei.
Canada advises citizens to leave China
Canadian citizens who do not need to be in China should leave while they still can, foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has said.
"We are advising Canadians whose presence in China is not essential to depart via commercial means while they remain available," Reuters reports him as saying.
Canada intended to fly out 200 citizens on Wednesday but will wait another 24 hours because of bad weather, Justin Trudeau said earlier.
'No evidence' coronavirus can be transmitted in womb, professor says
“As far as I am aware there is currently no evidence that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted in the womb," said Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia.
"When a baby is born vaginally it is exposed to the mother’s gut microbiome, therefore if a baby does get infected with coronavirus a few days after birth we currently cannot tell if the baby was infected in the womb or during birth.
Prof Hunter said there had been reports of pregnant women contracting Sars and Mers during those outbreaks and that there was no evidence to suggest transmission between mother and child. One study showed Sars was associated with a higher rate of miscarriage but said this was more likely due to the mother's illness than the foetus becoming infected, he said.
'Invest today or pay more later,' WHO warns
Director general of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has today asked for £520m to fight the spread of the virus.
Expert questions whether UK hospital 'pods' could raise infection risk
Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter has told The Independent the government’s demand for hospitals to create “coronavirus priority assessment pods” appeared to be an overreaction.
“The British people are extremely compliant. This is a use of precious NHS resources when we have tried and tested processes after the swine flu pandemic where we didn’t do this,” he told health correspondent Shaun Lintern.
“Putting someone in a pod creates a temporary holding station where there are all sorts of issues about ventilation and air clearance etc that could raise the risk of infection.”
Dr Pankhania said people should be sent home and assessed from there.
In the letter sent to hospitals, revealed by The Independent, Professor Keith Willet, who is leading the NHS’s response to coronavirus, told NHS bosses: “Plans have been developed to avoid a surge in emergency departments due to coronavirus.
He described the measures as "appropriate ... to ensure business as usual services remain unaffected by any further cases or tests of coronavirus". He said the pods "will mean people with symptoms indicative of infection will get quick assessment".
The letter added the pods would need to be decontaminated in line with Public Health England guidance after every patient.
Corvid expert debunks misinformation around crows roosting in China
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