Coronavirus: Possible ‘super-spreader’ linked to 11 British cases identified as businessman

Scout leader says he is ‘fully recovered’ but still in quarantine, as neighbour warns against scapegoating

A man linked to 11 British coronavirus cases has been identified as businessman and scout leader Steve Walsh.

Described as a so-called “super-spreader”, the 53-year-old picked up the virus during a business conference in Singapore, ahead of a ski holiday in the French Alps on 24 January.

He returned to the UK four days later and was diagnosed on 6 February in Brighton. Five of the cases linked to Mr Walsh are in England, five are in France and one is in Majorca, Spain.

“I would like to thank the NHS for their help and care – whilst I have fully recovered, my thoughts are with others who have contracted coronavirus,” Mr Walsh said in a statement from quarantine in London’s St Thomas’ Hospital on Tuesday.

“As soon as I knew I had been exposed to a confirmed case of coronavirus I contacted my GP, NHS 111 and Public Health England.

“I was advised to attend an isolated room at hospital, despite showing no symptoms, and subsequently self-isolated at home as instructed.

“When the diagnosis was confirmed I was sent to an isolation unit in hospital, where I remain, and, as a precaution, my family was also asked to isolate themselves”.

One of Mr Walsh’s neighbours told The Mrror the scout leader feared “being made scapegoats for all this which would be totally unfair”. Ian Henshall told the site: “He acted as quickly as he possibly could as soon as he got ill.”

Elsewhere it is understood two prisoners at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire are being tested for infection, with both reportedly in isolation while Public Health England conduct tests.

The virus – now officially called Covid-19 – has so far killed more than 1,068 people in China according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with more than 43,000 people in the country infected.

An additional 358 instances of the virus have been confirmed in 24 other countries outside of mainland China, with the only deaths confirmed in Hong Kong and the Philippines. Late on Tuesday Japan said there had been 39 more positive diagnoses aboard a cruise chip quarantined there.

Steve Walsh thanked the NHS for his treatment and said he is ‘fully recovered’ (FTI Consulting/PA)

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said any vaccine would be at least 18 months away. “To be honest a virus is more powerful in creating political, social and economic upheaval than any terrorist attack,” he said. “It’s the worst enemy you can imagine.”

As of Tuesday evening, a total of 1,358 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK, of which 1,350 were confirmed negative and eight positive, the Department of Health said.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told MPs in the Commons that new funding was being launched immediately “to support any urgent works the NHS needs for the coronavirus response, such as the creation of further isolation areas and other necessary facilities”.

Of four Britons who tested positive for the virus on Monday, two were healthcare workers. Brighton’s County Oak medical centre was closed amid reports of workers wearing protective suits cleaning the surgery.

On Tuesday evening it was revealed a healthcare worker at Worthing Hospital, near Hove, is among the confirmed cases. Staff at the West Sussex hospital received a memo on Tuesday telling them an employee working in the A&E department had been diagnosed with the disease.

Public Health England confirmed the newly announced cases were “closely linked” as efforts were made to trace other people who may have been exposed to the virus.

The Singaporean authorities are said to be investigating the business meeting, attended by Mr Walsh with his company Servomex, alongside more than 90 other foreign nationals.

Servomex said “a limited number of its employees in different countries have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and are now being treated”.

The Grand Hyatt Singapore, a five-star hotel with 677 guest rooms, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health informed it that three people who attended the conference experienced symptoms after returning to their home countries of Malaysia and South Korea and have now been diagnosed with the virus.

The hotel said 94 foreigners stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the same time as the Servomex conference, including people from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak.

The hotel said it is now deep-cleaning guest rooms, meeting spaces, restaurants, the fitness centre and other public areas.

In Brighton, where several cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed, the County Oak Medical Centre closed its doors after reports one of the doctors working there had contracted the virus. A second branch of the surgery is also closed.

Meanwhile in the US a patient in San Diego was accidentally discharged while carrying the virus after being given the all clear.

In a statement UC San Diego Health confirmed one of four patients admitted after being evacuated from Wuhan had to be readmitted after further testing found evidence of the virus.

The patient had been released into quarantine quarters at an airbase where they were being held for the duration of the virus’s incubation period.

“The confirmed positive patient was returned to UC San Diego Health for observation and isolation until cleared by the CDC for release,” the hospital added.