British Airways cabin crew fear they are at increased risk of catching coronavirus because planes are ‘deep-cleaned once a month’ and only get a ‘quick wipe’ after most flights – after two Heathrow baggage handlers catch the infection
- British Airways jets only deep-cleaned monthly with some just getting a ‘quick wipe’ before jetting off again
- Two baggage handlers at London Heathrow tested positive for the wide-spread killer infection yesterday
- Fears may now be raised that the BA baggage handlers could have passed virus onto passengers’ luggage
- Hospital patient in 80s with underlying health issues feared to have become UK’s second coronavirus death
- A woman in her 70s, who also had long-term health troubles, died yesterday at the Royal Berkshire Hospital
British Airways cabin crew fear they are more at risk of catching coronavirus because planes were are not deep-cleaned after every flight.
In fact, jets are only deep-cleaned monthly with some just getting a ‘quick wipe’ before jetting off again.
Yesterday, two baggage handlers at Terminal 5 of London’s Heathrow Airport tested positive for the killer infection raising fears that the virus – that has infected 164 people in Britain and killed two – could have passed onto passengers’ luggage, where it could survive for up to three days.
A BA crew member, who asked not to be named, said: ‘They’re given a basic clean by cleaners who use the same cloths to wipe down galleys and surfaces.
‘A plane comes from Hong Kong, it gets a quick wipe and then it goes straight to New York.
‘Cabin crew get a small bottle of hand sanitizer. If someone was to show symptoms there are masks, but you’re in a confined space at 40,000ft, so it won’t do much good.
‘Everybody has raised concerns. But you can’t do anything about it. You can’t refuse to do any flights.’
British Airways cabin crew fear they are more at risk of catching coronavirus because planes were are not deep-cleaned after every flight (stock image)
Yesterday, two baggage handlers at Terminal 5 of London’s Heathrow Airport tested positive for the killer infection raising fears that the virus – that has infected 164 people in Britain and killed two – could have passed onto passengers’ luggage, where it could survive for up to three days. Pictured: A passenger in Heathrow Terminal 5
A BA crew member, who asked not to be named, said: ‘They’re given a basic clean by cleaners who use the same cloths to wipe down galleys and surfaces’ (stock image)
A woman wears a protective face mask on Oxford Street in central London as fears over the spread of deadly coronavirus escalate
A man is seen wearing a protective face mask at Waterloo Station, London. There have been two deaths from coronavirus in Britain so far
The family of the grandfather in his 80s who died of coronavirus yesterday – the UK’s second fatality – fear he could have passed on the infection after he was left ‘coughing excessively’ on a ward at Milton Keynes Hospital (pictured) for six hours
March 6, saw the biggest one-day jump in the number of people confirmed to have the coronavirus – there were 47 new cases, bringing the UK’s new total from 116 to 163
A BA spokesman said every aircraft was given a ‘regular clean’ after every short-haul flight and a thorough one each evening.
Long-haul flights get a thorough clean after every flight, including seats, seat pockets, tray tables, galleys, toilets, floors, the aircraft interior and surfaces generally.
Monthly deep-cleans of all aircraft return them to a ‘like new’ standard, and involve everything from ceilings to air vents.
Heathrow has introduced a strict hygiene regime since the outbreak of coronavirus in January and staff have been cleaning baggage carousels regularly.
A spokesman said baggage handlers working for all airlines had been given gloves, masks and hand sanitizers, as well as lessons in good hand hygiene.
PHE staff at the airport are also advising staff on how to prevent infection and monitoring inbound passengers for signs of symptoms.
Heathrow is still accepting arrivals from Milan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Travellers who return from these areas must self-quarantine if they develop symptoms.
On Thursday evening a woman in her 70s became the first person in the UK to die after being diagnosed with coronavirus while at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
The woman – who had ‘underlying health conditions’ – tested positive for the killer infection on Wednesday before succumbing to the illness the following day.
And on Friday a grandfather in his early 80s died at Milton Keynes Hospital after he was admitted on March 3 with suspected pneumonia having recently returned from a cruise where he had visited several countries.
His family fear he could have passed on the infection after he was left ‘coughing excessively’ on a ward for six hours as patients warned hospital workers to check him for the deadly virus.
After health officials confirmed two British Airways baggage handlers were infected, one anxious traveller asked: ‘How many passengers have been infected?’
Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world and tens of thousands of travellers pass through the airport every day.
Public Health England said neither patient worked while showing any symptoms but it is not clear if they had handled luggage before becoming ill. Scientists fear patients who don’t have a cough or fever – tell-tale signs of the infection – can still be contagious but it has not yet been definitively proven.
It comes as elderly people are to be told to stay at home under new government guidelines to tackle the outbreak of the virus as health officials urge Britons to check in on their relatives.
The elderly should be prepared for ‘social distancing’ policies, which are to be announcement by ministers next week, government sources said.
Advice will include the elderly staying at home and avoiding crowded areas which the Department of Health warned could leave people ‘cut off’.
Guidelines also state that households should decide how their food will be delivered in case they have to self-isolate.
The UK’s chief scientific adviser confirmed that the virus is spreading uncontrollably between people inside Britain. Sir Patrick Vallance admitted: ‘This is the start of an outbreak clearly… we can expect more cases.’
Anxious Britons have resorted to wearing gas masks and blankets on public transport in desperate attempts to protect themselves as the coronavirus continues its rampant spread across the UK, while supermarkets up and down the country have again been left bare amid rushes to stockpile household goods such as hand soap, nappies and dried foods like pasta and rice.
Facebook has closed its London offices for the weekend because an employee from Singapore was diagnosed with the coronavirus after visiting the English headquarters between February 24 and 26.
Furious doctors have warned the lack of spare beds in the NHS ‘will end in death’ and an ex-government worker claimed a coronavirus crisis in the UK ‘would be quite useful’ in killing off NHS bed blockers.
And Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged an extra £46million to rush through a coronavirus vaccine, after the scientific adviser, Sir Patrick, said a jab will not be ready during this outbreak – researchers hope one could be ready to use by the end of the year.
Mr Johnson even said it looks like the UK will face a ‘substantial period of disruption’ from the new coronavirus outbreak and the government plans to put aid for affected businesses in the national budget.
Two BA baggage handlers have been infected with coronavirus, it was confirmed yesterday. Pictured is a file photo
Travellers have today been left fearing they may have unknowingly caught the coronavirus after two baggage handlers at London Heathrow tested positive for the killer infection
A woman wears a surgical mask while walking through Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London today
Passengers wear surgical masks as they board a British Airways flight from Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London
There are now 90 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Britain, after three more were confirmed in Scotland this morning
As coronavirus fears continued to grip the UK, developments include:
- Iranian authorities warned Friday they may use ‘force’ to limit travel between cities as the virus has killed 124 people amid 4,747 confirmed cases in the Islamic Republic
- Doctor spearheading the search for a coronavirus vaccine said it is the most frightening thing he has ever encountered and far more deadly than flu – as he revealed fighting it will be like a war
- Facebook closed its London office for deep cleaning after a Singapore-based employee who had visited tested positive
- Scottish Government official Professor June Andrew said a coronavirus pandemic would be ‘quite useful’ as it would take out hospital bed blockers, even though it was a ‘horrific’ thing to say
- Dr Mike Ryan, from the World Health Organisation (WHO), said it was ‘a false hope’ that coronavirus would disappear in the summer like flu
- A 43-year-old British businessman was confirmed with coronavirus in Thailand, and the Vatican confirmed its first case
- A church in Devon closed after a parishioner was diagnosed with coronavirus, while the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna temple, near Watford, closed its doors after a member tested positive
- Yesterday, two baggage handlers at London Heathrow tested positive for the killer infection
- Globally, the number of coronavirus cases has passed 100,000, including five new confirmed cases in Ireland, bringing the state’s total to 18. There have been 3,400 deaths worldwide
- The Royal College of Emergency Medicine cancelled its spring conference on continuing professional development in Bournemouth at the end of March
Hospital patient in his 80s is feared to be Britain’s second coronavirus death
A hospital patient in his 80s with underlying health conditions is feared to have become Britain’s second coronavirus death.
The unnamed man is thought to have succumbed to the illness at Milton Keynes University Hospital last night.
He had tested positive for the killer virus once already but the NHS must carry out further tests to confirm the case and rule out a false positive, MailOnline understands.
Fellow patients and hospital staff on his ward have been isolated this morning and a deep clean has been carried out.
Health officials are now tracking down anyone who had been in contact with the patient and will test them for the highly contagious illness.
The man has tested positive once for coronavirus, but a patient must have three positive results for it to be considered accurate.
Today services at MK Hospital are running as normal. The hospital has been contacted for comment.
In an interview with ITV news, Mr Hancock said: ‘I’m very sorry to hear the news of a second death here in the UK of somebody with coronavirus. Again, it was was somebody who was older and had underlying health conditions.
‘My condolences go out to the family and to his loved ones. We are working round the clock to keep people safe and to make sure we get the best possible response in this country.’
The unidentified man in his 80s who had underlying health conditions passed away at Milton Keynes University Hospital after testing positive for the killer coronavirus.
He tested positive for the virus this morning. Further tests confirmed he had the infection.
Fellow patients and hospital staff on his ward were isolated and a deep clean has been carried out. Health officials are now tracking down anyone who had been in contact with the patient.
The first death on British soil, a woman in her 70s who also had long-term health troubles, was recorded last night at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
The first Briton to die was an elderly patient who caught the virus on the doomed Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined off the coast of Japan after hundreds of holidaymakers tested positive.
The elderly and those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease are believed to be the most vulnerable from the virus because they have weakened immune systems, meaning the virus is more likely to cause complications and attack their organs.
It comes after British Airways confirmed two baggage handlers tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the deadly infection. Both are in isolation at home.
Both men worked at London Heathrow airport, which said ‘the welfare of our passengers and colleagues is our top priority’. Bloomberg reports some of the handlers’ colleagues are also being tested.
Coronavirus fears have already prompted BA to cancel all of its flights to China until April, slashed the number of its services to Europe and New York, and scrapped fees for customers to change bookings at the start of March.
After BA confirmed two cases in baggage handlers – who it is feared could have unwittingly spread the virus onto luggage – the Department of Health in England announced 47 more patients had been struck down, including five in Scotland.
Boris Johnson visiting a lab in Bedford today and washing his hands as part of a campaign to encourage members of the public to do the same
BA did not reveal where the baggage handler worked, but Heathrow said in a statement: ‘The welfare of our passengers and colleagues is our top priority. Pictured are passengers at Terminal 5 wearing masks today
Fears may now be raised that the BA baggage handlers could pass on the virus, which England’s chief medical officer said can stay contagious on plastic for three days
‘It’s going to end in deaths’: Doctors rip into the NHS ability to cope with a coronavirus crisis
A lack of beds and equipment in the NHS during the coronavirus ‘will end in death’, furious doctors have warned.
In a New York Times article that was scathing of the NHS, British clinicians sounded the alarm about there not being enough ventilators or intensive care beds to cope with the crisis.
Elderly and frail patients will be denied lifesaving care because people with better chances of surviving will be prioritised, they warned.
Dr George Priestley, an intensive care doctor in Yorkshire, said: ‘If we haven’t got ventilatory support to offer them, it’s going to end in death. I don’t want to be alarmist. I just want someone to pay attention.’
Experts have said that up to 80 per cent of the entire British population could fall ill with coronavirus in a worst-case scenario.
Dr Priestley added: ‘If we get those kinds of numbers, nobody knows how we’d possibly cope.
‘We’d have to do a very robust triage where only those with a high chance of getting better would get near a ventilator.’
The clinician estimates that hundreds of people in Yorkshire could need to be hooked up to ventilators and warned his hospital only has around 35 intensive care beds.
Other doctors have warned that years of austerity and cuts to the Health Service mean it could crumble in the event of a full-blown outbreak.
Pointing to the fact Britain now has the second-fewest hospital beds per capita in Europe, London cardiologist Dr Dominic Pimenta told the NY Times: ‘The NHS has never been in a worse state going into something like this.
‘The dominoes have been stacked for 10 years. It wouldn’t have taken much to tip them over.’
It comes after A&E doctors in south London treated a coughing patient – who had travelled to a high-risk country in Asia – without wearing face masks last week.
Many of the medics had not been fitted with masks, suggesting the country was not prepared for an outbreak, a doctor at the hospital suggested to the US publication.
The last time Britain faced a crisis on the scale of coronavirus was during the 2009 swine flu epidemic.
Back then, Dr Nick Scriven, a specialist in urgent conditions in Halifax, West Yorkshire, said every doctor where he worked had their own heavy-duty face mask.
But he now claims supplies have become so low that staff need to share masks and scrub them in between treating patients.
No further details about where they caught the virus were given. However, England’s chief medical officer yesterday admitted the infection was definitely spreading on British soil.
Of the 163 cases already confirmed in the UK, 147 are in England, 11 in Scotland, three in Northern Ireland and two in Wales. Leading scientists have repeatedly warned there are likely to be more cases.
It comes after Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England and Wales, said people can catch the illness by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their face.
And the coronavirus may stay contagious on hard metal or plastic surfaces like door handles or rails on buses or trains for as long as three days, he added. Some scientists have even suggested the virus may be more likely to spread on the hands than it is through the air.
Speaking at a meeting with ministers in Parliament, Professor Whitty said the virus would ‘largely gone by 48 hours and almost completely gone by 72 hours on a hard surface’.
It comes just days after the NHS started testing thousands of intensive care patients for COVID-19 amid fears it is already spreading through NHS wards.
In a dramatic ramping up of efforts to detect the virus, hospitals were ordered to test any seriously ill patient with a cough or breathing difficulties. Medics were told to screen patients even if they had not been abroad or had any contact with anyone from high-risk countries.
In a New York Times article that was scathing of the NHS, British clinicians sounded the alarm about there not being enough ventilators or intensive care beds to cope with the crisis.
Dr George Priestley, an intensive care doctor in Yorkshire, said: ‘If we haven’t got ventilatory support to offer them, it’s going to end in death. I don’t want to be alarmist. I just want someone to pay attention.’
Experts have said that up to 80 per cent of the entire British population could fall ill with coronavirus in a worst-case scenario. Dr Priestley added: ‘If we get those kinds of numbers, nobody knows how we’d possibly cope.’
Professor Whitty clarified that the virus spreads when somebody who already has it coughs or sneezes onto their hand, then touches something or someone.
Anyone who touches something the patient has contaminated is at risk of catching the virus if they then touch their face, he said.
The virus can enter the body through the eyes, nose and mouth, but not through the skin, Professor Whitty explained.
His counterpart, scientific adviser Sir Patrick, said an outbreak has now begun in the UK.
He told Sky News: ‘This is the start of an outbreak clearly. We are in the position now where we have got person-to-person transmission of this in the UK and therefore we can expect more cases.’
It came as an unnamed man is thought to have succumbed to coronavirus at Milton Keynes University Hospital last night.
He had tested positive for the killer virus once already but the NHS must carry out further tests to confirm the case and rule out a false positive, MailOnline understands.
The Prime Minister shaking hands with Tory peer Byron Davies as he arrives at the Welsh Conservative Party conference in North Wales
Dried pasta has flown off the shelves and was in short supply at this Asda store in Southampton today, Friday
Shelves which normally stock hand gels and soaps are seen stripped bare at Asda in Chandler’s Ford, Southampton – companies producing the sanitisers say they are ramping up production because of ‘exceptional demand’
WHAT MAKES PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF THE CORONAVIRUS?
Men are 65 per cent more likely than women to die from coronavirus, according to statistics.
Figures from the World Health Organization and Chinese scientists have revealed that 1.7 per cent of women who catch the virus will die compared to 2.8 per cent of men, even though neither sex is more likely to catch it.
More than 100,000 people around the world have now been diagnosed with the virus and at least 3,383 have died.
Some experts have put the higher risk among men down to higher smoking and drinking rates – both habits weaken the immune system.
Figures from the World Health Organization and Chinese scientists has revealed that 1.7 per cent of woman who catch the virus will die compared to 2.8 per cent of men (pictured, a graphic showing those most likely at risk from the virus)
The elderly and infirm have also been found to more at risk of coronavirus, with 10.5 per cent of heart disease patients expected to die if they catch the deadly virus.
Death rates among people with diabetes are expected to be around 7.3 per cent, while six per cent of patients who have high blood pressure might die if infected.
Some 5.6 per cent of cancer sufferers infected with the coronavirus would be expected to die along with 6.3 per cent of people with long-term lung diseases.
Those aged 80 years or older are most at risk, with 14.8 per cent of people catching the disease in that age bracket expected to die.
Between 60 and 69 years old the death rate is around 3.6 per cent, while it is more like 1.3 per cent for those aged 50 to 59.
For people in their 40s this drops to 0.4 per cent, and it’s just 0.2 per cent for those in their 30s.
Children do not seem to catch the virus very often, according to data from China, and there are no high-profile reports of children dying.
If the case is confirmed he would become the second Briton to die from the illness in the UK.
Fellow patients and hospital staff on his ward have been isolated this morning and a deep clean has been carried out.
It comes after a child at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital tested positive for the virus yesterday.
The first death, a woman in her 70s who also had long-term health troubles, was recorded on Thursday at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
Latest figures show there have been 163 cases in the UK out of nearly 21,000 people tested.
The elderly and those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease are believed to be the most vulnerable from the virus.
The latest death comes just days after the NHS started testing thousands of intensive care patients for COVID-19 amid fears it is already spreading through NHS wards.
In a dramatic ramping up of efforts to detect the virus, hospitals were ordered to test any seriously ill patient with a cough or breathing difficulties.
Medics were told to screen patients even if they had not been abroad or had any contact with anyone from high-risk countries.
It comes after it was revealed half of Britain’s coronavirus patients are being treated at home amid mounting fears the NHS does not have enough beds to cope with the outbreak.
The government – whose chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance today admitted the world is unlikely to get a vaccine in time for the outbreak – is also ‘looking at’ possibly isolating entire households as part of its four-stage ‘battle plan’ if the crisis continues to escalate and cases become more widespread.
Speaking on BBC Question Time last night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told coronavirus patients caring for themselves at home to shut themselves away in their room and avoid their loved ones.
He said: ‘People should try to self-isolate from their families, not only go home, try not to go out shopping, definitely don’t use public transport, but within your own home you should also try to self-isolate.’
Mr Hancock added that, as the father of three children, he understood that ‘can be difficult and some people have caring responsibilities’, but people should try to keep to themselves as much as possible.
Meanwhile, supermarkets up and down the country have again been left bare amid rushes to stockpile household goods such as hand soap, nappies and dried foods like pasta and rice.
Despite the panic surrounding the virus the Government has urged people not to bulk buy products, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock vowing that supermarkets would not run out of food and Prime Minister Boris Johnson claiming that it was ‘business as usual’ after the first confirmed death of a UK patient with the virus.
Soup shelves had been cleared in a Sainsbury’s branch in Crayford, London, today
This Sainsbury’s store in Crayford, south-east London, had been all but stripped of toilet roll supplies as Britons admit to panic-buying essentials for fear of a demand and supply crisis if there’s an outbreak
Handwashes are in short supply – manufacturers say they’re working double time to try and catch up with ‘exceptional demand’
Over-the-counter medicines including paracetamol and ibuprofen have been swept off the shelves at Sainsbury’s
PANIC BUYERS IGNORE BORIS JOHNSON’S CALL FOR CALM
Shoppers in the UK have ignored the Government’s call for them to carry on with life as usual in the face of coronavirus and supermarket shelves around the country have been pictured stripped bare of essentials such as toilet roll, hand soaps, pasta and tinned foods.
Supermarkets said they were facing much higher demand than usual and manufacturers said they were ramping up production to keep up with shoppers.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) on behalf of supermarkets, said it was ‘working constructively with Government officials to ensure that supermarkets remain stocked and supply chains continue to function as normal for the foreseeable future’.
She added: ‘While coronavirus has increased the demand of certain products in the short-term, we are confident that any disruption will remain limited and consumers will continue to be able to choose from a wide selection of foods and other products in stores across the country.’
Mr Hancock sought to reassure the public during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Thursday when he said the Government had ‘supplies of the key things that are needed’ and urged people not to panic-buy.
But customers don’t seem to be taking much notice of the reassurances and bosses at online supermarket Ocado told customers they would have to place orders early due to a ‘higher than usual demand’.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed the Government was ‘working with the supermarkets’ to make sure that people who are told to self-isolate – who must stay at home for at least two weeks – will be able to get regular food deliveries.
The Competition & Markets Authority yesterday warned that firms taking advantage of the panic by hiking prices of products could be prosecuted or fined.
It has emerged that fraudsters are cashing in on the coronavirus crisis and have fleeced panicked people in the UK out of £800,000 already.
One person has reportedly lost £15,000 buying face masks over the internet after the products never arrived.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has already identified 21 reports of fraud where coronavirus was mentioned since February.
Police warn the number of scams is expected to rise as the deadly virus continues to spread and people look to make a quick buck.
People have been caught charging for hygiene products they never deliver, price-gouging the products, setting up websites with fake information to try and get people’s personal details, or sending phishing emails about coronavirus which are designed to trick people into opening malicious attachments.
A common tactic used by scammers is to send messages purporting to be from research groups linked with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), officials said.
They claim to be able to provide a list of people infected with COVID-19, which links to a malicious website or ask the victim to make a payment in Bitcoin.
The City of London Police advised: ‘Don’t click on the links or attachments in suspicious emails and never respond to unsolicited messages and calls that ask for your personal or financial details.’
Coronavirus fears have gripped Britons. A man on the central line of the London Underground this morning wore a gas mask
A commuter on the London Underground wears a gas mask on Friday morning as the capital was gripped by coronavirus fears after the UK’s first death
An LBC radio producer photographed a passenger on the London Underground ‘protecting’ themselves from coronavirus by hiding underneath a quilt
Many people have taken to wearing face masks on public transport. One many was pictured wearing his headphones over the mask (left) while another was pictured on the tube this morning wearing the full face covering (right)
Costco customers are sprayed with ‘DISINFECTANT’: Worker douses people entering store as coronavirus panic grips Britain
Customers at a Costco in south London are now being ‘disinfected’ at the front door as coronavirus fears continue to grip Britain.
Shoppers ‘lined up obediently’ at the Croydon store’s entrance yesterday before being stopped by a staff member to be sprayed with a ‘disinfectant-like liquid’, the person who filmed the incident told MailOnline.
Costco today denied the claims, saying only trolley handles were sprayed – not customers.
As coronavirus fears take hold in the UK now that 163 people her have been diagnosed and the virus is known to be spreading inside the UK, anxious Britons have resorted to wearing gas masks and blankets on public transport in desperate attempts to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, supermarkets up and down the country have again been left bare amid rushes to stockpile household goods such as hand soap, nappies and dried foods like pasta and rice.
Despite the panic surrounding the virus the government has urged people not to bulk buy products, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock vowing that supermarkets would not run out of food and Prime Minister Boris Johnson claiming that it was ‘business as usual’ after the first confirmed death of a UK patient with the virus.
It seemed there was a back log of customers outside the Costco in Croydon as they were given hand sanitiser on entrance
Customers queue outside Boots in Salisbury, Wiltshire, this morning, amid reports that supermarkets and shops across the UK are running out of hand sanitiser
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured at a laboratory in Bedford today. He has announced a £46million funding boost to develop coronavirus testing kits
CORONAVIRUS PANIC-BUYERS RIPPED OFF TO THE TUNE OF £800,000
Fraudsters are cashing in on the coronavirus crisis, with victims’ losses totalling more than £800,000 in a month.
One person told police they had lost more than £15,000 after buying protective face masks which were never delivered.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has already identified 21 reports of fraud where coronavirus was mentioned since February.
Police are warning numbers of scams are set to rise as the deadly virus spreads across the world.
The figure includes ten scams where victims tried to buy protective masks from fraudsters.
Other reports involved coronavirus-themed phishing emails designed to trick people into opening malicious attachments or revealing sensitive information.
A common tactic used by scammers is to send messages purporting to be from research groups linked with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
They claim to be able to provide a list of people infected with Covid-19, which links to a malicious website or ask the victim to make a payment in Bitcoin.
The City of London Police advised: ‘Don’t click on the links or attachments in suspicious emails and never respond to unsolicited messages and calls that ask for your personal or financial details.’
Source: Press Association
But customers don’t seem to be taking much notice of the reassurances and bosses at online supermarket Ocado told customers they would have to place orders early due to a ‘higher than usual demand’.
Mr Hancock claimed the Government was ‘working with the supermarkets’ to make sure that people who are told to self-isolate – who must stay at home for at least two weeks – will be able to get regular food deliveries. The Competition & Markets Authority yesterday warned that firms taking advantage of the panic by hiking prices of could be prosecuted or fined.
The incident at Costco in Croydon comes amid rising reports of bizarre events around the country as concerns about the coronavirus hit fever pitch now officials admit people are catching the virus within the UK.
Speaking to the MailOnline, the person who filmed the incident at Costco said it was a ‘peculiar situation’ and that there had been no clear signs explaining what was happening or why the queue were longer than usual.
‘There were no available trolleys and by time I reached the top of the line I noticed the security guard/sales assistant had a translucent canister and he was spraying everyone as they walked in,’ he said.
‘You would show your card and then receive a squirt of whatever was in there and then you would get a tissue’.
He added that there had been a waste paper bin to drop the tissues into and claimed he questioned Costco staff on if these measures had been put in place because of the coronavirus to which they said ‘yes’.
The company said it was ‘simply sanitising trolley handles as a precautionary measure’.
But the witness said it was definitely sprayed onto his hands, adding: ‘Nobody seemed to question what was happening and everyone was just lining up obediently.
‘The liquid was more fluid than hand sanitiser and it felt more water-based, it had a smell of disinfectant.’
He also claimed that customers were rationed to two tissue-based products each and that hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial products were also being rationed.
Customers were lined up outside the Croydon Costco (pictured above) and were given hand sanitiser
Professor Whitty said the risk of touching a contaminated surface declines as time passes, but there could still be a danger for days after an infected patient left their mark. Pictured, a Government ad campaign to promote hand hygiene
Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk through Piccadilly Circus on Thursday- normally a bustling tourist hotspot – in central London
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS?
Someone who is infected with the coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.
More than 3,300 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and over 98,000 have been infected. Here’s what we know so far:
What is the coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.
The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It has been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The name stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2.
Experts say the bug, which has killed around one in 50 patients since the outbreak began in December, is a ‘sister’ of the SARS illness which hit China in 2002, so has been named after it.
The disease that the virus causes has been named COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019.
Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: ‘Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.
‘Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).
‘Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.’
The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started publicly reporting infections on December 31.
By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.
The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 7,000.
Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 – possibly 9,700 – were infected in Wuhan alone. By that point, 26 people had died.
By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone.
By January 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000.
By February 5, there were more than 24,000 cases and 492 deaths.
By February 11, this had risen to more than 43,000 cases and 1,000 deaths.
A change in the way cases are confirmed on February 13 – doctors decided to start using lung scans as a formal diagnosis, as well as laboratory tests – caused a spike in the number of cases, to more than 60,000 and to 1,369 deaths.
By February 25, around 80,000 people had been infected and some 2,700 had died. February 25 was the first day in the outbreak when fewer cases were diagnosed within China than in the rest of the world.
Where does the virus come from?
According to scientists, the virus almost certainly came from bats. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.
The first cases of COVID-19 came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in Wuhan, which has since been closed down for investigation.
Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.
A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 2020 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China is 96 per cent identical to a coronavirus they found in bats.
However, there were not many bats at the market so scientists say it was likely there was an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human. It has not yet been confirmed what type of animal this was.
Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: ‘The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China.
‘We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been.’
So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?
Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.
It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans’ lungs. It is less deadly than SARS, however, which killed around one in 10 people, compared to approximately one in 50 for COVID-19.
Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they’ve never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.
Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: ‘Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
‘Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but it’s possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.’
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.
‘My feeling is it’s lower,’ Dr Horby added. ‘We’re probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that’s the current circumstance we’re in.
‘Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.’
How does the virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.
It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky.
Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.
There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.
What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the COVID-19 virus it may take between two and 14 days, or even longer, for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.
If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients will recover from these without any issues, and many will need no medical help at all.
In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.
Figures are showing that young children do not seem to be particularly badly affected by the virus, which they say is peculiar considering their susceptibility to flu, but it is not clear why.
What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?
Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.
This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.
Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.
However, the director-general of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.
This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.
More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.
How dangerous is the virus?
The virus has a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.
Experts have been conflicted since the beginning of the outbreak about whether the true number of people who are infected is significantly higher than the official numbers of recorded cases. Some people are expected to have such mild symptoms that they never even realise they are ill unless they’re tested, so only the more serious cases get discovered, making the death toll seem higher than it really is.
However, an investigation into government surveillance in China said it had found no reason to believe this was true.
Dr Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization official who went on a mission to China, said there was no evidence that figures were only showing the tip of the iceberg, and said recording appeared to be accurate, Stat News reported.
Can the virus be cured?
The COVID-19 virus cannot be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.
Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can work, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.
No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it’s not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.
The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.
Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.
People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.
And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people’s temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).
However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.
Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?
The outbreak is an epidemic, which is when a disease takes hold of one community such as a country or region.
Although it has spread to dozens of countries, the outbreak is not yet classed as a pandemic, which is defined by the World Health Organization as the ‘worldwide spread of a new disease’.
The head of WHO’s global infectious hazard preparedness, Dr Sylvie Briand, said: ‘Currently we are not in a pandemic. We are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci, and we try to extinguish the transmission in each of these foci,’ the Guardian reported.
She said that most cases outside of Hubei had been ‘spillover’ from the epicentre, so the disease wasn’t actually spreading actively around the world.
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