Coronavirus: Stopping flights to UK would only delay virus spread 'by a matter of days'
Matt Hancock warns stopping flights would make it harder for the UK to get many medicines which are produced overseas.
Friday 6 March 2020 08:16, UK
The government is not considering stopping flights into the UK to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the health secretary has said.
Matt Hancock said he was speaking after advice from the government's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, who had told him that stopping flights would only delay the spread of the disease "by a matter of days".
He told the BBC: "If this virus becomes established around the world, there is no way in stopping it from getting to Britain eventually.
"Do you try to shut ourselves off as a nation and delay it, and if it does go pandemic in the rest of the world it is inevitable that it would come here?
"Or do you try to keep as much normal life as possible and tackle it by finding those who do come in to the country?"
He also said that stopping flights coming in to the UK would make it "much harder" to get medicines, because many are made abroad.
His words follow the death of the first person in the UK as a result of coronavirus.
The woman in her 70s was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on Wednesday evening and had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
She had underlying health conditions and had caught coronavirus in the UK.
A statement released by the hospital on Thursday said: "The patient has previously been in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, but on this occasion was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus.
"The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time."
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in the UK more than doubled in the last 48 hours, with Downing Street warning it is "highly likely" the virus will now spread in a "significant way".
Some 116 people have now tested positive for in the UK, including 105 in England, three in Wales, six in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland.
Just two days ago there were 51 UK cases.
Officials confirmed 18 people diagnosed with coronavirus have since recovered, while 45 of the confirmed cases are being treated at home.
The NHS has urged anyone returning to the UK from any part of Italy - which is facing Europe's biggest outbreak - to self-isolate if they develop symptoms.
However, anyone returning to the UK from "lockdown" areas in the north of Italy in the past two weeks has been told to self-isolate even if they do not have symptoms.
More than 140 Britons are stranded on a cruise ship off California's coast after a former passenger died from coronavirus and several people on board fell ill.
The Grand Princess, which has more than 3,500 passengers and crew, was due to dock in San Francisco on Wednesday but remains at sea while tests are carried out.
It comes as one of the first Britons to suffer from told Sky News how he went from "a bit sniffly" to being unable to breathe.
Connor Reed, a 25-year-old from Llandudno in North Wales, was working at a school in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, when he caught the virus in November last year.
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In other developments:
- Religious groups have issued guidance for worshippers on practices including hand-shaking, sharing hymn books and taking communion wine
- Prof Whitty told a committee of MPs it would be "lucky" to get a vaccine for COVID-19 in the next year, adding that half of all coronavirus cases in the UK are most likely to occur in just a three-week period, with 95% of them over a nine-week period
- The competition watchdog warned retailers they could be prosecuted for trying to "exploit" the coronavirus outbreak by selling protective products at inflated prices
- Bank HSBC said an employee at its Canary Wharf offices in London had been diagnosed and it is "deep-cleaning" areas he worked
- Starbucks said it was "pausing the use of personal cups" in its UK stores due to coronavirus fears
Virus Outbreak: Global Emergency - Watch a special Sky News programme on coronavirus at 6pm weekdays