Hunt for plane passengers who sat near coronavirus patients as disease spreads in UK

Health officials are racing against time to hunt down plane passengers who may have sat near unsuspecting coronavirus patients.

Six people have tested positive for the disease after returning to the UK in recent days: four in England, one in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. All contracted the illness from outbreak hotspots in Europe or the Middle East.

Public Health Wales said they are trying to trace anyone who may have had contact with a man who tested positive for the virus after travelling from northern Italy to Wales.

Meanwhile, people who sat within two rows of the person from Northern Ireland infected with Covid-19 on the plane from Italy to Dublin have already been contacted, health authorities said.

Public Health England (PHE) have not released an official statement but told Metro.co.uk that they are working to establish a trail of anyone who may have come into contact with the other four patients who were recently diagnosed.

The two new cases in England confirmed today were passed on in Iran and the patients have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

The two people who tested positive for the disease in England yesterday are understood to have contracted the virus in Italy and Tenerife.

Northern Italy – the epicentre of Europe’s outbreak –  has been battered by coronavirus over the last week. The Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to 11 towns on lock down in Lombardy and Venetto while anyone returning from the regions has been asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

The outbreak has produced a trail all the way to Nigeria, where an Italian citizen who entered the country on a Turkish Airlines flight from Milan via Istanbul tested positive for the disease.

The virus has proliferated around the globe over the past week, emerging in every continent except Antarctica.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Thursday that the country was on the brink of an epidemic with 20 cases confirmed in the last 24 hours.

About 1,000 people are in quarantine in Germany as cases soared past 50 and Lithuania and New Zealand also confirmed their first cases.

Many governments and businesses have introduced drastic measures to stop people travelling or gathering in crowded places. Switzerland said all events with more than 1,000 participants would be suspended until 15 March. The ban forced the cancellation of next week’s Geneva international motor show – a major fixture on the global car industry calendar.