I know many will be concerned about the new cases of coronavirus that have been confirmed in the city today.  Five out of the eight current confirmed cases in the UK were reported in Brighton and Hove - all five of them are adults.

I’ve spent much of the day liaising with the office of the Chief Medical Officer and with representatives from Public Health England (PHE).  All the new cases are known contacts of a previously confirmed case, who was from Hove and had been successfully identified by PHE.  The virus was passed on in France.   

As a result of PHE’s contact tracing we now know the new cases announced today are all closely linked to one another.  PHE’s priority has been to speak to those who have had close and sustained contact with confirmed cases, so they can advise them on what they can do to limit the spread of the virus.  

Two of these new cases are healthcare workers and as soon as they were identified, they were advised to self-isolate in order to keep patient contact to a minimum.  PHE are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage they believe this to be a relatively small number.   The County Oak medical centre has been closed as a precautionary measure while contacts are being traced.  The Clinical Commissioning Group will be making an announcement shortly about how to deal with the temporary closure. 

I will continue to do all I can to make sure accurate and timely information is shared with constituents.

The best place to go to for information about minimising risk is PHE’s site here

https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/

The latest statement from the Chief Medical Officer is here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chief-medical-officer-for-england-announces-four-further-coronavirus-cases

BHCC website also has updates about what is happening in our city

https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2020/coronavirus-update-monday-10-february