Health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries been diagnosed with coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Ms Dorries, the first MP to test positive, said she had taken all the advised precautions after finding out, and had been self-isolating at home.<\/p>\n
It comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.<\/p>\n
The latest person to die was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, NHS England said it was scaling up its capacity for testing people for the infection, with the number of cases set to rise.<\/p>\n
That will mean 10,000 tests a day can be done – currently 1,500 are being carried out.<\/p>\n
Confirmation of any positive test results will also be accelerated with most people getting a result back within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Ms Dorries, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said in a statement that Public Health England had started tracing people she had had contact with, and the department and her parliamentary office were closely following its advice.<\/p>\n
The 62-year-old, who began her career as a nurse, later tweeted that it had been “pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now”.<\/p>\n
But she added she was worried about her 84-year-old mother who was staying with her and began to cough on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
It is not known how many meetings Ms Dorries had attended at Westminster or in her constituency in recent days.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health said she first showed symptoms on Thursday – the same day she attended a Downing Street event hosted by the prime minister – and had been self-isolating since Friday.<\/p>\n
No 10 did not comment on whether Boris Johnson had undergone testing, or whether he will now be tested.<\/p>\n
All health ministers, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, are to undergo testing for the virus, along with other officials who have come into contact with Ms Dorries.<\/p>\n
Mr Hancock tweeted that she had “done the right thing” by self-isolating at home and wished “her well as she recovers”.<\/p>\n
He added: “I understand why people are worried about this disease. We will do all we can to keep people safe, based on the best possible science.”<\/p>\n
Public Health England has already carried out more than 25,000 coronavirus tests across the UK.<\/p>\n
NHS chief scientific officer Prof Dame Sue Hill said the health service was preparing to cope with more cases.<\/p>\n
“Every hospital across the country, and the healthcare professionals who run them, are now actively planning to respond flexibly to manage new demand.”<\/p>\n
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be expected to roll out their own testing services, but there will be some shared capacity between nations, depending on need.<\/p>\n
The number of total cases for the UK include 324 cases in England, 27 in Scotland, 16 in Northern Ireland and 15 in Wales.<\/p>\n
There are 91 in London, with the next highest infected area being south-east, with 51 cases. Cases by local council area in England can be viewed here.<\/p>\n
The latest person to die, on Monday evening, was a man with underlying health conditions who was being treated at Watford General Hospital.<\/p>\n
He caught the virus in the UK and officials are trying to trace who he had been in contact with.<\/p>\n
The UK Foreign Office has warned Britons against all but essential travel to Italy, which is experiencing the worst outbreak outside China, after it introduced strict travel restrictions.<\/p>\n
Italians are being told to stay home, seek permission for essential travel, and give justification if they want to leave the country.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Office is advising anyone arriving in the UK from Italy since Monday evening to self-isolate for 14 days.<\/p>\n
The government says it has facilities to accommodate Italian visitors to the UK who need to self-isolate.<\/p>\n
British Airways has cancelled all of its flights to and from Italy until 4 April, and has asked staff to take voluntary unpaid leave.<\/p>\n
Easyjet, Ryanair and Jet2 are also cancelling their flights on Italian routes, though EasyJet will operate “rescue flights” to bring British travellers home in the coming days.<\/p>\n
“It’s the weirdest holiday I think I’ve ever been on,” said Hannah Butcher, from Newbury, Berkshire, who is in Rome with her husband for their first holiday alone since having a child.<\/p>\n
“We arrived on Sunday. The advice then was as long as you’re not going into Italy’s red zone, you’re OK.<\/p>\n
“We’re currently sitting in a restaurant and everyone here is in staggered rows because they have to sit one metre apart. It’s quite weird seeing families spread across multiple tables.”<\/p>\n
She added that people are “only allowed to enter shops one at a time”.<\/p>\n
“All the attractions are closed; there are queues out the door of supermarkets and the butchers. There are police driving round making sure the rules are enforced and a noticeable armed police presence, presumably to keep order.”<\/p>\n
She said they were due to fly home with Ryanair on Wednesday morning and had not been informed of any flight updates.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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