UK coronavirus cases rise to 90 amid fears the illness is spreading inside the NHS

At least four NHS staff have caught the illness, which has now infected 90 people in the UK, along with two other people in hospitals and a medical student in London.

Three new cases were confirmed this morning by the Scottish Government, in people from Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and Grampian, bringing the country's total to six.  

King's College Hospital, in London, yesterday put parts of its buildings in lockdown after two coronavirus cases were discovered there, and another was diagnosed at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. 

NHS workers in Carlisle and Maidstone and two 'recent patients' at King's College Hospital have also all been diagnosed.

And fears that a doctor or patient in Cambridge had caught the illness were raised today after Waterbeach Surgery was closed abruptly for a deep clean and hazmat-clad workers were seen scrubbing it down.
 

England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, today said the virus is definitely spreading inside the UK and the government has ratcheted up its response to the second 'delay' phase because it no longer believes it can prevent an outbreak.

He added that there was now a 'slim to zero' chance that the virus could be stopped.

But Professor Whitty said he did not expect cases to be worse among healthcare workers because they would be told by bosses not to work through illness and to go home at the first sight of an infection. 

And he said elderly people, who are known to be most likely to die from the coronavirus, did not yet need to batten down the hatches at home and that catching the virus in old age does not mean you would be 'a goner'.

Final-year medical students could be drafted in to reduce the strain on hospitals in the event of an epidemic, as well as retirees being pulled back into the workforce.





MailOnline