University cities on high alert as six Chinese patients admitted with suspected coronavirus

University cities in Britain were on high alert after four Chinese patients were admitted to hospitals in Scotland, and one in Belfast with suspected coronavirus.

Professor Jurgen Haas, Head of Infection Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said three people had been isolated in Edinburgh and one person in Glasgow and warned that many more cases were likely in other UK cities.

Tests for Wuhan novel coronavirus (WN-CoV) are also being carried out on a patient at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

One in five international students in Britain are from China, and Professor Haas suggested that Edinburgh is suffering from three cases because it has such a large Chinese student population.

The University of Wuhan, the city in which the outbreak began, has international partnerships with four British universities  - Aberdeen, Glasgow, Birmingham and Leeds, and Edinburgh University has international partnerships with 42 universities across China:

A spokesman for the University of Aberdeen also said five of its staff had recently returned from Wuhan, and one was now working from home as a precautionary measure. Newcastle University is currently hosting 300 students from the region of the outbreak.

The University of Chester has warned students that if they return to China for Chinese New Year they will not be readmitted without a suitable quarantine period.

Tests are currently being carried out on the five suspected cases in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland, all of whom suffered flu-like symptoms after recently returning from Wuhan within the past fortnight.

Public Health England (PHE) said so far a handful of people have been tested as part of our standard procedures and results have been negative.

Asked whether the Government would close air routes from China if any cases were confirmed, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “Ministers and officials will keep the situation under close review.”

Professor Haas said: “The situation will be pretty similar in pretty much all UK cities with a large number of Chinese students. My suspicious is that there will probably be many more cases in many other cities in the UK.”

Special measures have been enforced at the Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, including patients being isolate and staff wearing special protection suits.

In a statement to the Commons on Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS was well-prepared for an outbreak, but warned that the situation was developing rapidly, and said he expected the death toll to rise further.

On Wednesday night, China suspended all flights, including international services, out of Wuhan city - the epicentre of the virus outbreak, and shut down all transport services and public venues, such as theatres.

Another city close to Wuhan, Huanggang, is also on lockdown as officials try to contain the spread of the virus.

Mr Hancock told MPs there had been 571 cases of coronavirus and 17 deaths confirmed by the Chinese government.

“However this is a rapidly developing situation and the number of cases, and deaths is likely to be higher than those that have been confirmed so far,” he added.

“And we expect them to rise further. The Chief Medical Officer has revised the risk to the UK population from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ – and has concluded that while there is an increased likelihood that cases may arise in this country, we are well prepared to deal with them.”

Confirmed cases had now been reported across 25 provinces in China and the virus has spread to Macao, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the US.

Avon and Somerset Police were forced to close two police stations in, and around, Bristol, amid fears that a Chinese detainee was displaying flu-like symptoms, but reopened on advice from Public Health England (PHE)

PHE had been carrying out enhanced monitoring of direct flights from Wuhan city but the Chinese authorities stopped all flights, ferries and long-distance buses out of the area yesterday.

Labour Shadow Health Secretary Sharon Hodgson warned that passengers had been allowed to leave flights from China with little or no advice.

Mr Hancock said he would ‘not hesitate to act’ if it became necessary to screen more flights coming into Britain.

Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) are meeting again on Thursday to decide whether to declare a global public health emergency over the virus.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising against all but essential travel to the region.

Professor Neil Ferguson, director of the Medical Research Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, said the estimated number of people infected with coronavirus in Wuhan is around 4,000, with a range between 1,000 and 9,700.

Asked whether it is possible the virus has already reached the UK, Prof Ferguson said he could not rule it out. Other experts said it was likely that cases would be seen in Britain.

Dr Andrew Freedman, Reader in Infectious Diseases at Cardiff University, said: “It is likely that further cases will be seen in other countries around the world, including the UK and Europe, in the days & weeks to come.”

Explaining why there is global concern about the virus, Dr Josie Golding of the Wellcome Trust said it is because so little is known about it and vital information is "missing", like how easily it can be transmitted and where it is coming from.