- As of 5 February there have been two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, a total of 468 UK tests have concluded, of which 466 were confirmed negative and 2 positive.
- Globally as of 5 February there are 24,553 cases of which 24,324 are in China, there are less than 200 outside of China in 27 countries
- The fatalities to date are 492 (490 of these are within China, 1 in the Philippines and 1 in Hong Kong).
- Public Health England (PHE) has distributed 100,000 leaflets to airlines and airports. The information is available in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
- Airlines are being asked to call ahead with any issues around symptomatic passengers and PHE teams are on standby to deploy and meet these airlines accordingly.
- The UK Government has announced £20m core funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) on 2 February to support research into vaccines.
- The Diamond Princess cruise ship is currently in quarantine outside Yokohama, Japan after a previous passenger fell ill with coronavirus, 10 people on the ship have tested positive for the coronavirus. Princess Cruises has cancelled the next two Diamond Princess cruises 4 and 12 February.
Outbound travel advice from FCO
- The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) updated their travel advice on the 4 February, advising against all travel to Hubei Province, and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China. They further advised British nationals in China to leave, if they are able to do so.
VisitBritain and DCMS attended a cross-Government meeting organised by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (who look after the UK Government’s crisis response). Representatives from the Department for Transport, Department for Education, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Department of Health and Social Care also joined the meeting (apologies from Home Office and FCO). The aim of this meeting was to look at concerns/potential impact on Chinese visitors to Britain, following BA and Virgin suspended direct flights between Britain and China. Key out-takes were:
- Both BA and Virgin are operating a flexible policy and there are clear rules around care for passengers in the UK meaning that they are allowing cancellations, re-routings, postponements.
- There have been no reports via TIER and TIER members or across Government of visitors being stranded currently.
- Chinese visitors with health concerns need to follow the same route as the British public, so contact NHS 111. In Northern Ireland, visitors should call the Corona Virus Helpline: 0300 200 7885. They are looking to provide translators on these services. Advice of how medical support will be funded to follow
- DFE are looking at arrangements for school children at boarding and at independent schools who are unable to get home on a case by case basis. The expectation is that provision would be made for them to stay on at boarding school and that those at independent schools have sponsor families who would support
- MHCLG is looking at how we ensure the Chinese in Britain are not subject to prejudice as a result. VB and DCMS to link up with them given we have similar concerns re: visitors
- We flagged the following as needing consideration/actions
- Specific advice for tourism businesses on welcoming visitors and dealing with fears from other visitors/guests (mentioning examples raised at TIER re: language schools, hotels, attractions, etc.)
- Potential insolvency of operators reliant on Chinese visitors
- Rules for other airlines re: passenger care should they decide to pull routes
- Overall, to consider visitors as well as the British public as part of overall planning and messaging