HUNDREDS of people at French ski resort are tested for coronavirus after coming into contact with British 'super spreader' family - amid fears disease is MORE contagious than first thought
- Bob Saynor, 48, and his son, nine, are at the centre of the outbreak in the Alps
- The father and son are both being treated in hospital in France for coronavirus
- Hundreds of people in the town of Les Contamines-Montjoie have been tested
A British 'super spreader' is feared to have infected at least seven others with coronavirus, prompting the emergency testing of hundreds of people.
The businessman is at the centre of a web of cases stretching across the UK, France and Spain after he apparently contracted the virus during a trip to Singapore.
Officials have desperately tried to stop further spread with a cross-border hunt for all the hundreds of people he may have had contact with.
More than 900 people have died and 37,000 have become infected since the outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has been placed in lockdown to curb the spread.
Last night, it emerged that health authorities have contacted 183 passengers and six crew on an Easyjet flight taken by the unnamed man, warning that they could be infected.
Passengers, including a baby, disembark from a charter flight carrying Brits evacuated from Wuhan, China after it arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire
Hundreds have been tested for cononavirus in the town of Les Contamines-Montjoie, near Megeve in the French Alps
Public Health England is under pressure to reveal where the so-called 'super spreader' had been and the full extent of the numbers under observation.
The task has been made more difficult because the patient, from Hove in East Sussex, interrupted his return from Singapore to Britain by taking a four-day break in the French Alps.
The middle-aged man contracted the virus during a conference at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Singapore organised by Servomex, a British gas analytics company, more than two weeks ago.
He then travelled to a ski chalet in Les Contamines-Montjoie, near Megeve, from January 24 to 28. He returned to Britain on an Easyjet flight on January 28 but fell ill after arriving in Britain, and has been receiving treatment at St Thomas' Hospital in London since last Thursday.
Five Britons who shared the ski chalet with him were diagnosed over the weekend, and hundreds of residents of the picturesque town are now undergoing tests.
Environmental consultant Bob Saynor, 48, and his nine-year-old son have been named locally as being at the centre of the outbreak and are being treated in hospital
Mr Saynor's two other children and four Britons from another family are being kept in isolation at French hospitals as a precaution. His wife Catriona, a doctor, is reportedly in the UK
Authorities confirmed yesterday that a fourth case of coronavirus in the UK was also linked to the Hove businessman.
In addition, a British father-of-two who stayed in the ski resort tested positive after returning to his home in Majorca.
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The five Britons who caught the virus in the Alps include the chalet's owner, environmental consultant Bob Saynor, 48, and his nine-year-old son.
They are in hospital with three other Britons who were staying at the six-bedroom chalet.
Mr Saynor's two other children and four Britons from another family are being kept in isolation at French hospitals as a precaution. His wife Catriona, a doctor, is reportedly in the UK.
The family is understood to have been living in the village for just three months after moving from Hove themselves, despite having bought the property several years ago. Mrs Saynor had left France by the time the investigation began and is under observation in a UK hospital. It is not clear if she was the fourth case diagnosed in Britain.
French officials have closed the 95-pupil primary school attended by the Saynors' nine-year-old son, while a 200-pupil school in nearby Saint-Gervais he attended for one day last week will also be shut.
Etienne Jacquet, the mayor of Les Contamines-Montjoie, said the chalet had now been disinfected.
At this time of year, the village of 1,200 people, which is part of the Mount Blanc ski area, hosts thousands of skiers.
But local shop staff said some tourists had cancelled bookings, even though French half-term week starts today, followed by British half-term next week.
Last night, Easyjet spokesman said it had contacted all of the passengers and crew on the infected carrier's flight from Geneva to London Gatwick on January 28.
Five employees at The Grenadier pub in Hove have been instructed to self-isolate after he visited for two hours on February 1. A school pupil in the area was also told to self-isolate during the investigation into the man's movements.
The meeting in Singapore was attended by 94 other business people, with participants from Malaysia, South Korea and Britain also diagnosed with coronavirus.
The local ambulance service estimated 200 people had been tested by Sunday afternoon
Officials have closed the 95-pupil primary school for lessons this week in the small ski resort, an hour from Geneva
The Les Contamines Ski Club, where the infected nine-year-old child is a member, cancelled training on Sunday
The Regional Health Agency of Auvergne Rhône Alpes is desperately trying to trace the course of the contaminated people
Emergency service workers at a local school, where they screened people for the coronavirus
The Regional Health Agency of Auvergne Rhône Alpes is trying to identify who the infected people came in contact with
Dr Nathalie MacDermott, from King's College London, told yesterday of her 'concerns of the potential for this epidemic to develop into a pandemic, particularly if international lines of communication about cases of infection and mechanism of transmission are not maintained'.
Professor Richard Tedder, a visiting professor at Imperial College London, said that the most recent cases gave rise to the 'potential risk of a pandemic'.
China yesterday raised the death toll from its coronavirus outbreak to 811, passing the number killed globally by the SARS epidemic.
China's ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, described the virus – which has spread to at least 27 countries and territories, infecting more than 330 people – as 'the enemy of mankind'.
Health experts believe the outbreak could have spread from bats to humans through the illegal traffic of pangolins – or scaly anteaters – which are prized in China for food and medicine.
105 fly in as hotel turns into Camp Corona II
More than 100 Britons were placed in quarantine at a three-star hotel in Milton Keynes yesterday after another airlift from Wuhan.
Wearing masks and escorted by health staff in hazmat suits, the group flew from China to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Some passengers held children in their arms as they were helped from the plane. The 105 Britons were taken to Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in a convoy of coaches with a police escort.
It follows earlier airlifts to Britain from the city at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, which brought 94 people to quarantine on the Wirral.
The Milton Keynes group will stay at the hotel for two weeks until they receive the medical all-clear. They have been given books and magazines and will have access to the internet on phones and tablets.
Pictured: A bedroom at the Kents Hill Park conference centre and hotel in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, the room also has tea cups and a kettle
Children will receive toys and games. Upon arrival at the hotel, the group were handed bags of toiletries and supplied with underwear from Primark and other clothing. Baby equipment, such as highchairs, is also being brought in. The hotel, which has more than 70 meeting rooms and 300 bedrooms, was surrounded by temporary fencing yesterday. Ambulances waited outside and police guarded entrances.
The chartered flight arrived at Brize Norton shortly before 7.30am. It was carrying the 105 Britons along with 95 Europeans and 13 medical staff and officials. It is understood all the passengers went to the quarantine hotel. It emerged that two Britons were prevented from boarding in Wuhan after displaying high temperatures during screening.
The hotel is close to three schools, but nearby residents said they were not concerned about the quarantine being so close. Stephen Szyelimski, 73, said: ‘They’ve got to go somewhere. You could say that it may have been better if they had been put in a more of an isolated place but I’ve got no bones of contention. It’s got to be done properly.’
Pictured is a bathroom at the centre, where British nationals repatriated from Wuhan, China, are being taken to be monitored for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus
Passengers have been taken by coach to Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where they will be quarantined for 14 days (pictured are provisions laid out at the centre)
Tracy Philemon, 59, said: ‘Wherever they do it, people aren’t going to be happy. It’s unfortunate for us in some respects, but as long as they do things the way they’re supposed to...I don’t see a problem with it.’ Meanwhile, a Briton whose honeymoon on a luxury cruise ship was cut short after he contracted the coronavirus yesterday told how he ‘can’t wait to get out’ of hospital.
Lorry driver Alan Steele, 58, was removed last week from the Diamond Princess which is currently in quarantine off the coast of Japan with 3,700 passengers on board.
His placement in an isolation unit onshore in Japan was coupled with the heartache of being separated from his new wife Wendy, 51.
Mr Steele said he had shown no signs of serious illness and was whiling away his time watching British television. He insisted: ‘My vitals all still show I am healthy.’
Mr Steele, from Wolverhampton, vented his frustration at being unable to take a shower or use a coffee machine due to safety risks. He said: ‘I cannot wait to get out of here.'
