Edinburgh virus fears: Expert says more suspected cases around UK likely

An expert at the University of Edinburgh has said there are likely to be more suspected cases of coronavirus in cities around the UK.

Professor Jurgen Haas said cities with large numbers of Chinese students were likely to be affected, as travel between the two countries is fairly frequent.

Three people are being tested for the illness known as Wuhan Novel Coronavirus in Edinburgh. As of Friday morning, 14 people had been tested across the UK but no cases have been confirmed.

The Scottish Government has formed an Incident Management team but Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs on Thursday the risk to the general public in Scotland was currently classed as low.

Described as a pneumonia-like infection, symptoms of the virus initially appear like the common cold. There have been 17 fatalities in China and the city of Wuhan has been placed on lockdown.

Prof Jurgen Haas on Reporting Scotland (BBC)

The head of Edinburgh University's Infection Medicine department said on Thursday said there were thousands of students at the institution.

He said: "Here at the University of Edinburgh we have more than 2000 students from China, and of course they are always coming and going back to China.

"So we will relatively sure have cases in the UK from travellers coming back from China."

Speaking to Press Association, Prof Haas said three of the cases are in Edinburgh with one believed to be in Glasgow.

The head of infection medicine at the University of Edinburgh also said: "The situation will be pretty similar in pretty much all UK cities with a large number of Chinese students."

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