A British man managed to pass on the coronavirus to at least 11 other people without ever setting foot in the epicentre of the outbreak in China , in an infectious journey that shows how the deadly virus can spread rapidly around a globalised world .
The adult British citizen, who has not been named publicly, caught the virus while attending a conference in Singapore and then passed it on to several compatriots while on holiday in the French Alps, before finally being diagnosed back in the UK .
Of those infected by the man, five have been hospitalised in France , five in Britain and one other man on the Spanish island of Mallorca .
How did he pass on the new coronavirus so rapidly in so many different places ?
– Singapore –
The man attended a business conference in Singapore from 20 -22 January . More than 100 people took part in the conference , including at least one Chinese national from Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic that has now left more than 900 dead.
– Haute- Savoie , French Alps –
He then travelled on to France to spend some days from January 24 -28 at the ski resort of Contamines -Montjoie in the Alps with a group of other British citizens staying in two apartments in the same chalet.
– Brighton , England –
Stricken with fever after his return to the south of England, the man then went to a medical centre in the southeastern town of Brighton where he was diagnosed with the coronavirus .
On February 6 , he was transferred to the infectious diseases unit at the hospital of St Thomas in London .
Five other people who had contact with him at the French ski chalet were then confirmed by the British health authorities to be infected .
Some of the staff from The Grenadier pub, which the man went to just before he was hospitalised , have also been placed in isolation. But the pub has stayed open .
A medical centre in Brighton said on Monday it had temporarily closed for “ an urgent operational health and safety reason ” .
The BBC and Sky News said one of the centre ’ s staff members had tested positive for the virus , although this was not officially confirmed .
– Paris –
Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said on February 8 that five British nationals, including a child, who stayed at the chalet with the man had tested positive .
Six other Britons staying in the same chalet were also hospitalised for observation .
“ They show no serious signs” of those infected having any threat to their lives , added Buzyn .
Business owners in the Contamines -Montjoie resort have been keen to avoid any exaggerations of the threat as French families prepared to descend on the area for the half -term ski holidays .
Three schools attended by one of the British infected — the child aged nine — are closed and 100 have been people tested . All the results have been negative so far .
Similar efforts have been made to track down passengers who took a flight from Geneva — the closest large airport to Contamines -Montjoie — with the man when he went back to Britain on January 28.
– Mallorca , Spain –
One member of the group he stayed with in France then sought medical help after returning to his home in Mallorca . The contamination took place between January 25 and January 29, according to the Spanish authorities .
The man in Mallorca is “ currently in good health . He shows practically no symptom, ” said Fernando Simon , an official from Spain ’ s health ministry .
The Mallorca man ’ s wife and two daughters aged 10 and 7 , who were also hospitalised for tests , have shown no sign of infection .
– Speed of spread spurs fears –
Experts said that the speed of the transmission showed the potential for the novel coronavirus to become a global pandemic .
“ The recent report of transmission to British nationals in France is worrying but perhaps not unexpected development , ” said Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine , University of East Anglia.
“ This reinforces the fact that transmission is no longer restricted to China . It is still too early to know when and if the epidemic will become pandemic and whether we will see start to see sustained person to person transmission in Europe. ”
Source:- AFP
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