BFF-54 Britain tells travellers from China virus city to self-isolate

412

ZCZC

BFF-54

CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS-BRITAIN

Britain tells travellers from China virus city to self-isolate

LONDON, Jan 27, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Around 1,500 people who came to Britain
from the Chinese epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in the past two weeks
must put themselves in isolation, the UK health minister said Monday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said authorities “cannot be 100 percent
certain” that the virus cannot spread from a person who exhibits no flu-like
symptoms.

“From today, we are therefore asking anyone in the UK who has returned
from Wuhan in the last 14 days to self-isolate,” Hancock told a parliamentary
hearing.

“Do not leave home until you have been given advice by a clinician.”

Hancock said health officials continued to trace people who have arrived
in the UK from Wuhan.

“Having eliminated those who we know have since left the country, there
are 1,460 people we are seeking to locate.”

Britain has not recorded any confirmed cases of the disease.

The Foreign Office said Monday it was “working to make an option
available for British nationals to leave (Wuhan’s) Hubei province due to the
heavy travel restrictions and increased difficulty of accessing consular or
medical assistance.”

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2415 hrs