Coronavirus: Older patient becomes first virus fatality in UK – BBC South East Wales, BBC News
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Image copyright PA Media Image caption The patient had been in and out of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading
A patient with underlying health conditions has become the first person in the UK to die after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Trust said the person was an “older patient” who had been “in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons “.
The patient” was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus. ”
It comes as the number of UK people diagnosed with the virus reached , a rise of more than since Wednesday. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s official spokesman said it was “highly likely the virus is going to spread in a significant way”.
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The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, is believed to have caught the virus in the UK, said the country chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty.
They are not thought to have been abroad recently, BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle added .
Officials are now trying to trace the people they were in contact with.
“I am very sorry to report a patient in England who tested positive for Covid – 45 has sadly died, “said Prof Whitty.
” I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their request for privacy is respected. “
Image copyright EPA Image caption Some people are wearing masks, although it is not official government advice Image copyright Reuters Image caption A drive-through center in Parsons Green, London, allows people to be tested through a car window Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pupils in Hove greet each other with a foot-to-foot tap instead of shaking hands
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “his sympathies are with the victim and their family” but the UK was “still in the contain phase” – the first stage of the government response to the outbreak.
He said scientists and medical staff are making preparations for the next phase – the “delay” phase “- and reiterated the advice to wash hands.
The UK cases include patients in England as well as six in Scotland, three in Northern Ireland and two in Wales.
Around of the confirmed cases have been self -isolating at home, while (people have recovered.
) There are currently cases where the authorities do not know how the individual was infected , said our health correspondent. They have no links with foreign travel, he added.
Mr Johnson said the UK was still in the first phase of its four -part plan to tackle the virus outbreak, which is made up of: contain, delay, research and mitigate.
The government is still deciding what measures will be taken in the delay phase, but has previously said this could include banning big events, closing schools, encouraging people to work from home and discouraging the use of public transport.
Last week, a a British man in Japan became the first UK citizen to die from the virus after being infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The government has now updated its guidance to travelers arriving in the UK from Italy – the country in Europe that has been hit worst by the virus, with more than 3, cases.
Media caption Chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty: “Community transmission highly likely”
Earlier, Prof Whitty told MPs on the health and social care committee that half of all coronavirus cases in the UK are most likely to occur in just a three-week period, with % of them over a nine-week period.
He said the health service would be stretched by people needing oxygen and some ” things may be considerably less well done “during the peak of an epidemic.
But he said neither elderly people nor people with asthma should self-isolate yet, adding there was no evidence of “deep harm” in children with asthma.
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