On the train from Marylebone to Bicester Village train station a voice comes over the PA announcing in Mandarin that the train has arrived. Eager shoppers, a significant portion of them Chinese, make their way to the luxury outlet shopping destination nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside – many are wearing face masks.
As fear about the spread of the new coronavirus grows across the globe, Chinese tourists who have come to the UK hoping to enjoy sightseeing and shopping during the lunar new year holidays have had their trips overshadowed by fears for friends and family back home – and what awaits them on their return.
Making his way to the glitzy walkway that leads shoppers to Bicester Village, Sting Yao, 33, a manager in a media company, says at the moment his most pressing concern is the return to work. “We are safe in the UK, but I want to go back now,” he says. “When I go home I will be expected to stay at home for 15 days, when I have already been on holiday and I really need to get back to work.”
What is the virus causing illness in Wuhan?
It is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals, or possibly seafood. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.
What other coronaviruses have there been?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals.
What are the symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus?
The virus causes pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work. If people are admitted to hospital, they may get support for their lungs and other organs as well as fluids. Recovery will depend on the strength of their immune system. Many of those who have died are known to have been already in poor health.
Is the virus being transmitted from one person to another?
Human to human transmission has been confirmed by China’s national health commission. As of 3 February, 361 people have died in China, and one in the Philippines. Confirmed infections in China are 17,238, and the official Chinese figures include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Outside of China, infections stand at more than 150.
Two members of one family have been confirmed to have the virus in the UK, after more than 160 were tested and found negative. The actual number to have contracted the virus could be far higher as people with mild symptoms may not have been detected. Modelling by World Health Organization (WHO) experts at Imperial College London suggests there could be as many as 100,000 cases, with uncertainty putting the margins between 30,000 and 200,000.
How worried are the experts?
There were fears that the coronavirus might spread more widely during the week-long lunar new year holidays, which start on 24 January, when millions of Chinese travel home to celebrate, but the festivities have largely been cancelled and Wuhan and other Chinese cities are in lockdown.
At what point should you go to the doctor if you have a cough, say?
Unless you have recently travelled to China or been in contact with someone infected with the virus, then you should treat any cough or cold symptoms as normal. The NHS advises that there is generally no need to visit a doctor for a cough unless it is persistent or you are having other symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or you feel very unwell.
Should we panic?
No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. It increases the likelihood that the World Health Organization will declare the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday evening. The key concerns are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people and what proportion become severely ill and end up in hospital.
Sarah Boseley Health editor and Hannah Devlin
Nonetheless he is determined to maximise his shopping time at Bicester Village, which is the second most popular tourist attraction for Chinese visitors to the UK after Buckingham Palace.
While Chinese tourists in masks is a common sight in normal times in popular tourist destinations, at Bicester Village this week there seems to be more Chinese visitors wearing them than not.
Kyu Hee, a Korean national with a Chinese husband who lives in the UK, has placed masks adorned with cute cartoon characters over the mouths of both of her children. “Of course I am worried,” she says. “This is the Chinese new year, so many people are leaving the country and lots of them are coming here. It is very popular.”
Her in-laws in China are “watching the news and staying home”, while the children in her family in Korea are not going to school until the Chinese holiday season is over and the holidaymakers have gone, she says.
Chao Chen, a paediatric ENT specialist, says his family’s holiday has been complicated by their return flights being cancelled. He had to rebook with another airline for an extra £1,000. While the family has been looking forward to the holiday for six months, it has been overshadowed by news from back home.
“It’s very terrible, we are checking the news all the time,” says the 39-year-old, who works in Shanghai. “I wondered to myself: should we have cancelled? Should we have gone straight back home? But I promised my son we would take him to the UK, so here we are.”
At Bicester Village no staff appear to be wearing face masks, but one shop assistant, who does not want to be named, says they have received assurances from their managers that they can leave their posts to wash their hands at any time. “I’m trying not to think about it, because when I do I start to panic,” she says. She is being slightly more cautious with customers, keeping more of a distance while “being professional”, she adds.
In a gleaming meeting room in the offices of Bicester Village, Miranda Markham, the community relations director, says the company is monitoring the situation “on an hourly basis” but at the moment it is very much “business as usual”.
“It’s calm, there is no question of any panic,” she says, adding that staff have been told to talk to their managers if they have any concerns. “It’s really important that we keep on welcoming our Chinese guests, particularly as they are having a really rough time in their own country at the moment.” On the impact of still more stringent travel restrictions from mainland China, she is pragmatic. “We haven’t seen a significant drop-off in numbers yet, but if there are further restrictions it will have an effect – but that will be the case for all tourist destinations.”
And that could be significant – VisitBritain estimates that for every 22 Chinese visitors to the UK, one job is created. In 2018 there were 391,000 visits from China to the UK, with visitors spending £657m. And it is a growth market: forward flight bookings from China to the UK have been showing growth of 27% for arrivals during the coming six months, says VisitBritain’s director, Patricia Yates.
“With the Chinese authorities suspending outbound travel, the Foreign Office advising against all but essential travel, and BA subsequently cancelling flights, there is an obvious and immediate knock-on impact for the tourism industry,” she says.
“The extent of the impact on the industry depends on the length of the suspension of travel. It is currently low season for trips from China to the UK, with only about 15% of holiday trips taking place from January to March, so we would hope for a subsequent surge in bookings when the suspension is over.”
