Switzerland, Austria and Croatia report first cases as outbreak worsens across Europe. This blog is closed.
We’ve got a video of schoolteacher Marzio Toniolo describing life under lockdown in San Fiorano, one of the northern Italian towns under quarantine as coronavirus cases rise.
Around 50,000 residents of 11 towns across Lombardy and Veneto have been quarantined for at least the next 15 days as Italian authorities scramble to contain the worst outbreak of the virus in Europe and the third worst in the world.
One British tourist at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife has told PA Media that she was enduring the “holiday from hell”.
Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, said she has been stuck inside with her boyfriend and one-year-old son twice since they arrived on Sunday – first because of a sandstorm that swept the Canary Islands, and now because of the positive coronavirus test at the hotel.
She described the communication from the hotel on Tuesday as “non-existent”, telling the news agency: “We woke up to a note under our door this morning saying for health reasons not to leave our room. I called downstairs to reception as soon as I saw it and they wouldn’t tell us anything.
“So I quickly got on my phone and Googled and saw a man had tested positive for coronavirus, so I basically assumed it was that. But since then we’ve had nothing from the hotel – no one has told us anything or what’s going to happen.”
She said that while some people were moving around the hotel, she was staying put, adding: “We’re in our room with the baby. We’re worried for the baby.”
She now hopes to leave as soon as possible, adding: “If we’re allowed to leave we’re going to go home, but I don’t think we’ll be allowed to leave. We don’t want to be here. We’re fed up now. We had the sandstorm earlier and now this. Holiday from hell, honestly.”
Here’s a map of where the hotel is in Tenerife.
The UK government has updated the advice it is giving to people who have recently been travelling.
The full advice is now as follows:
Based on the scientific advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) the UK chief medical officers are advising anyone who has travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and is experiencing coughing or fever or shortness of breath, to stay indoors and call NHS 111, even if their symptoms are mild.
We are carrying out enhanced monitoring of direct flights from these areas. Passengers will be told how to report any symptoms they develop during the flight, at the time of arrival, or after leaving the airport.
These areas have been identified because of the volume of air travel from affected areas, understanding of other travel routes and number of reported cases. This list will be kept under review.
If you have returned from these specific areas since 19 February, you should call NHS111 and stay indoors and avoid contact with other people even if you do not have symptoms:
If you have returned from these areas since 19 February and develop symptoms, however mild, you should stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS111. You do not need to follow this advice if you have no symptoms:
If you’re staying in the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in Tenerife, which has been quarantined after an Italian guest tested positive for coronavirus, we’d like to hear from you. You can tell us about the situation by responding to this encrypted form or via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding the contact +44(0)7867825056.
A school in Cheshire has been forced to close amid concerns that students returning to the UK from a ski trip to Italy could be infected with coronavirus.
Cransley School, in Northwich, took the decision to close the school after NHS clinical services advised any staff or pupils who went on the trip to Bormio to self-isolate.
A number of students are believed to be experiencing symptoms of the virus after visiting the area in the Lombardy region, where hundreds of residents have contracted the deadly infection.
The school has closed to all pupils to undergo a “deep-clean” and has advised those returning from the excursion to self-contain regardless of whether they are showing symptoms.
The headteacher, Richard Pollock, used the school’s official Facebook page to share his decision to close the school, adding that he would visit Warrington General hospital tomorrow.
He said: “Regardless of the current Public Health England advice (that the school should remain open to all other pupils) I have decided, in discussion with the SMT and the chair and vice-chair of governors, to completely minimise possible spread of infection and close the school for the remainder of the week.
“During this time, the school will be able to conduct a deep clean, and monitor the results of tests amongst those pupils who are currently showing flu-like symptoms.
“I understand that there will be a variety of reactions to this decision amongst parents, and hope that all families will understand the developing situation and the changing and inconsistent advice given to the school. The staff, pupils and families of Cransley are our highest concern.”
A second school in Cheshire, Brine Leas Academy in Nantwich, has also been affected by travel to Italy. The school said on Twitter it would remain open but that the sixth form college would close due to “staff shortages”.
Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, has confirmed its first case of coronavirus infection, in a patient who is hospitalised in the capital.
“The patient is in the Zagreb clinic for infectious diseases. It is a younger person and he has milder symptoms. He is in isolation and his condition is good at the moment,” Plenković told a news conference.
The health minister, Vili Beroš, said the patient had stayed in Milan from 19 to 21 February.
In Iran, it is being reported that the deputy health minister has tested positive for coronavirus. According to the semi-official news agency ILNA, the spokesman for Iran’s health ministry confirmed in an interview with state television that Deputy Minister Iraj Harirchi has been infected and is now under quarantine.
Iraj Harirchi had been working as normal on Monday, and gave a news conference with journalists in Tehran about the virus during which he reportedly had been sweating and looking uncomfortable.
It appears that Austria has its first two cases of coronavirus, in the province of Tyrol. There’s no indication yet of the source of the outbreak, but Tyrol borders northern Italy where officials are struggling to contain a growing number of cases.
Back in the City, the FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip shares has fallen to a new four-month low.
The small gains reported earlier didn’t last. Traders have been spooked again by the latest coronavirus cases in Iran, Italy and the Canary Islands, which have pushed down markets across Europe.
The engineering group Meggitt and chemicals firm Croda are leading the FTSE 100 fallers, after they both warned shareholders this morning that Covid-19 will hit their businesses.
Neil MacKinnon, a global macro strategist at VTB Capital, says investors are alarmed by the economic damage caused within China, and the rising infections in other countries.
“Once travel restrictions inside China are lifted there is a risk of the virus increasing again and/or a reluctance of people to return to work. This looks like more of an ‘L-shaped recovery’ as far as the Chinese economy is concerned and full-capacity working is unlikely to happen before the third quarter.”
“The ramifications are certainly global, given that China has accounted for a third of global GDP growth over the past decade. The disruption to global supply chains and disruption to trade and investment flows is considerable,” MacKinnon warns.
The FTSE 100 is down 55 points, or 0.7%, at 7101 – its weakest level since 4 October. That’s on top of the 247 points lost in Monday’s rout. The Stoxx 600 index, which tracks Europe’s largest companies, has dropped by almost 1% today.
Our business liveblog has more details:
Italian authorities are investigating the skyrocketing online prices for hygienic masks and sanitising gels after the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, according to two senior magistrates.
“We have decided to open an investigation after media reports of the insane prices fetched up by these products on online sales websites in the last two days,” the Milan deputy chief prosecutor, Tiziana Siciliano, told Reuters.
The biggest outbreak in Europe has hit Italy, with more than 260 cases and seven deaths reported, most in the north of the country.
Many pharmacists have run out of hygienic masks and hand sanitisers, with people going online to buy them. “The price of masks online has risen from one cent to €10 each and a one-litre bottle of disinfectant that last week was on sale for €7, was up to €39 yesterday,” Siciliano said.
As the emergency has spread, police have also issued warnings that criminals posing as health inspectors have been using false identity papers to try to gain access to people’s houses to steal money or other valuables.