Coronavirus a serious and imminent threat to British public, gov warns

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THE GOVERNMENT has declared coronavirus as a serious and imminent threat to public health.

Already claiming hundreds of lives in China, the government has now moved to grant extra powers to deal with the illness.

The virus has claimed hundreds of lives in China.

Around 150 Brits were flown back from Wuhan yesterday and will now be quarantined at a facility in Milton Keynes.

The health ministry said: “The Secretary of State declares that the incidence or transmission of novel coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health.

“Measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus”.

Arrowe Park Hospital and Kents Hill Park have been designated as “isolation” facilities, with and Wuhan and Hubei province in China labelled “infected areas”.

Yesterday it emerged a British businessman is feared to have infected at least seven other people with coronavirus on a ski holiday before flying home on a packed easyJet flight.

The middle-aged “super-spreader” contracted the deadly virus while at a conference in Singapore and is then believed to have passed it on while staying at a chalet in France.

The announcement comes after more than 60 confirmed cases of the virus were found on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

The death toll yesterday rose to 908 after 97 people died in just one day.

Across mainland China there were also a further 3,062 confirmed infections, taking the total number to 40,171.