Coronavirus latest: Authorities test 31 people across the UK as China confirms 1,372 cases

Jacob Jarvis25 January 2020

Authorities have tested 31 people for coronavirus across the UK, though all there results have come back negative.

This indicates tests on 17 people have been completed in the last 24 hours, after 14 people had been given the all-clear by Friday afternoon.

There are no confirmed diagnoses in UK citizens abroad. Outside of China, the virus has been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, France, the United States and Australia.

The update comes as the Department of Health bids to track down around 2,000 people who have recently flown into the UK from Wuhan, the area of China worst affected by the outbreak and where it is thought to have originated.

Coronavirus - In pictures

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There are fears that the virus could hit British shores, after England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said there was a "fair chance" of cases being identified in the country.

China today confirmed it was dealing with 1,372 cases while the death toll stood at 41.

Workers in protective suits check the temperature of passengers arriving at the Xianning North Station
REUTERS

Xi Jinping told a policy meeting, aimed at looking for measures to fight the outbreak, that the virus was "accelerating its spread".

A report from state television in the country said plans have dictated resources and experts will be concentrated at designated hospitals for treatment of severe cases.

People are being tested across China
Getty Images

China's State Council Information Office is to hold a press briefing on the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday.

The fatalities so far have been contained to China, which has placed a reported 56 million people on lock down, with the majority occurring in the Hubei province around Wuhan.

In a bid to stop the spread, China's capital city Beijing will stop all inter-province shuttle buses from January 26, local media reported on Saturday, with no detail of when bus services will be resumed.

Wuhan authorities said they are rapidly constructing a new 1,000-bed hospital to deal with the crisis, to be completed on February 3. The facility will be modelled on a Sars hospital that was built in Beijing in just six days during the Sars outbreak.

The outbreak has hampered celebrations on Lunar New Year in China, the first day of the Year of the Rat.

Temples locked their doors, Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and other major tourist destinations closed.

Other people cancelled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people.

Both the US and France are said to be planning to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan.

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