Britain has declared the 2019 novel coronavirus that emerged from China a “serious and imminent threat to public health” and yesterday announced new measures to combat the spread of the disease.
The British Department of Health and Social Care said that people with the virus can now be forcibly quarantined and would not be free to leave.
It named two British hospitals as isolation facilities for those affected by the disease and designated the Chinese city of Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei Province where the virus first emerged as an “infected area.”
“The incidence or transmission of novel coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health, and the measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus,” the department said in a statement.
The changes were designed to ensure the health and safety of medical workers who come into contact with infected people, the department added.
The change comes after a British man who caught the virus at a business conference in Singapore last month appears to be linked to at least seven other confirmed cases in Europe.
Five British citizens, including a nine-year-old boy, contracted the virus in the French Alpine ski town of Contamines-Montjoie after staying in the same chalet as the British man.
French medical authorities on Sunday tested scores of children and their families from the area and temporarily closed three schools where the boy had spent time.
Britain has only four of Europe’s 39 confirmed virus cases but it is a key travel hub between Asia and Europe.
British authorities sought to reassure the public yesterday.
“Our infection control procedures are world-leading and the [National Health Service] is well prepared to deal with novel coronavirus,” the agency said. “This measure will rightly make it easier for health professionals to help keep people safe across the country.”
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