{"id":4801,"date":"2020-03-04T15:58:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T15:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801"},"modified":"2020-03-04T15:58:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T15:58:30","slug":"coronavirus-is-likely-to-be-spreading-undetected-in-uk-chief-medical-officer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in UK, Chief Medical Officer says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The UK is \u201clikely\u201d to see an epidemic of coronavirus, England\u2019s Chief Medical Officer has said, as he warned that community transmission is undoubtedly already occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Chris Whitty told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme: \u201cAt this point in time we think it is likely, not definite, that we will move into onward transmission and an epidemic here in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the NHS would cope with a major spread of cases but could come under \u201cvery high pressure\u201d in a large epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told BBC Breakfast there could be a need to do \u201cextreme things\u201d to protect the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cFor the great majority of people this will be a mild or moderate disease, anything from a sniffle to having to go to bed for a few days, rather like with mild flu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd there are some people who will get it with no symptoms at all, but for a minority of people \u2013 and this is particular in people who are older people or people with pre-existing health conditions \u2013 the risk is higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NHS will always cope because the NHS is an emergency service which is very good at adapting to what it finds itself with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he said if the UK sees a very large epidemic, \u201cthen it will put very high pressure on the NHS\u201d and there could be \u201cseveral weeks which could be very difficult\u201d for the health service and wider society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Whitty said he believes there is now onward transmission between people in the UK \u2013 which could lead to spiralling numbers \u2013 although only two cases of this nature have been identified so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the NHS would look to retired doctors for help, as well as \u201cgetting doctors doing one kind of a job doing another kind of the job\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of a significant epidemic, ministers would need to look at a range of measures, \u201csome of which will be very social disruptive\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the longer run, we might have to do more extreme things, particularly to protect older or more vulnerable people in society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On shutting down cities, Prof Whitty said: \u201cClosing cities is really only appropriate if you have a significant epidemic in one particular place and almost nothing anywhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt made sense for China to respond in the way it did but it would be very unlikely here\u2026 This is now in multiple places in Europe and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Whitty\u2019s comments came as the London Book Fair at Olympia from March 10 to 12 was cancelled after major publishers pulled out amid coronavirus fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, two people in Carlisle have tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both had recently returned from a trip to northern Italy. One is a member of healthcare staff at the Cumberland Infirmary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also on Wednesday, the Government launched a new campaign to encourage people to take simple steps to protect themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A letter to NHS trusts has also been published telling them to ramp up their plans for tackling Covid-19, including seeing patients via video-link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the letter, NHS strategic incident director Professor Keith Willett and incident director Stephen Groves say acute wards may be used and coronavirus patients should be separated out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sets out that a level 4 NHS incident has been declared \u2013 the highest level \u2013 and to date, Covid-19 has been managed as an infectious disease through specialist NHS centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it says \u201cit is now appropriate to begin to manage some patients within wider infectious disease units and, in due course if the number of cases continues to grow, we will need to use all acute units\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document says managers should review critical care and high dependency capacity and consider how it could be increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It adds: \u201cWhere possible, consider implementing alternative models such as remote consultations for those patients who can be supported at home and review arrangements to support vulnerable individuals in alternative settings, including in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Whitty told the Today programme that \u201cvideo conference consultations\u201d should be looked at \u201cvery seriously\u201d to relieve pressure on the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest Department of Health figures, 51 people in the UK have been diagnosed with coronavirus, although authorities in Scotland confirmed two more cases overnight into Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Government publicity campaign seeks to drive home the message that regular hand-washing is the single most important action individuals can take in the fight against Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes the day after the Government launched its \u201cbattle plan\u201d to combat the outbreak with a warning that up to a fifth of the UK workforce could be off sick when the virus hits its peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new adverts say hand-washing should be for 20 seconds, using soap and water or hand sanitiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government \u201cbattle plan\u201d sets out possible strategies for delaying the virus spread including school closures, \u201creducing the number of large-scale gatherings\u201d and encouraging greater home working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a worst case scenario, it said up to 80% of the population could become infected, with people hospitalised with pneumonia and a relatively high death rate among the elderly and frail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document also raises the possibility that at the virus peak, police could switch to dealing with only serious crime and maintaining public order while the military could be drafted in to support the emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government scientific experts predict the UK\u2019s coronavirus outbreak could last around four to six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, eight new countries \u2013 Andorra, Jordan, Latvia, Morocco, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Tunisia \u2013 have reported cases of coronavirus since Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are now more than 90,000 cases worldwide with more than 3,000 deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK is \u201clikely\u201d to see an epidemic of coronavirus, England\u2019s Chief Medical Officer has said, as he warned that community transmission is undoubtedly already occurring. Professor Chris Whitty told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme: \u201cAt this point in time we think it is likely, not definite, that we will move into onward transmission and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in UK, Chief Medical Officer says » WatchDog Plus Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odofin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncategorized\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Coronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in UK, Chief Medical Officer says\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Coronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in UK, Chief Medical Officer says » WatchDog Plus Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801","author":"Odofin","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=4801#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncategorized","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Coronavirus is likely to be spreading undetected in UK, Chief Medical Officer says"}]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Odofin","author_link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?author=2"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">Uncategorized<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The UK is \u201clikely\u201d to see an epidemic of coronavirus, England\u2019s Chief Medical Officer has said, as he warned that community transmission is undoubtedly already occurring. Professor Chris Whitty told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme: \u201cAt this point in time we think it is likely, not definite, that we will move into onward transmission and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4801"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}