It is a matter of when, not if, coronavirus appears in NI: officials

The remarks were made at a press conference this afternoon, where the team of people tasked with monitoring the virus in the Province saying they have set up an emergency nerve centre in Belfast where staff are monitoring the virus’ global spread.

Dr Michael McBride, the chief medical officer, and Dr Gerry Waldron, the head of health protection at the Public Health Authority (PHA), said that – as of 12.30pm on Wednesday – there were no confirmed cases in Northern Ireland.

Medics had run tests on 21 people who contacted the authorities with concerns about the illness, and all had come back negative.

Meanwhile, as of time of writing, there were eight confirmed cases in Great Britain – all of them in England.

In late January, health minister Robin Swann was quoted saying it is “not unreasonable to assume” Northern Ireland will have a positive case.

And today, when asked by the News Letter about the likelihood of spread to the Province, Dr McBride said: “Yes, undoubtedly that’s going to be the case... I think we will inevitably see cases in Northern Ireland at some stage.”

The officials told press that this did not mean fatalities would follow, pointing out that far more people have had the virus and recovered than have died.

Around 43,100 cases have been discovered in 25 countries worldwide. However, the number of deaths as of Tuesday was of 1,118 globally, the vast majority in China.

Until this week, NI health workers had to send tests to England to have them assessed, but now the tests (which takes around 24 hours) can be done in NI itself.

The PHA also revealed they have set up an emergency room in its Linenhall Street HQ in Belfast, manned by roughly 10 people at a time – though they are prepared to raise this number if needed.

The advice to anyone with suspected symptoms is NOT to go to a GP or to hospital – this can risk spreading the virus further.

Instead, stay indoors and telephone the authorities to alert them.

Dr Waldron said: “Now we’re emphasising they shouldn’t go directly to their GPs for instance, or to hospital.

“They should phone up and seek medical advice – over the phone. If they meet the case definition, they will get further advice on what to do next.”

Symptoms include fever, a cough, and shortness of breath.

Any NI citizens who have travelled to China, Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Macau in the past fortnight, may be at elevated risk.

The PHA was keen to stress that no-one should panic.

The PHA’s 24 hour helpline is on 03002007885. Alternatively go to www.pha.site/coronavirus to find out more.

Originally known as the coronavirus, the PHA now refers to the virus as COVID-19 (and it is also known as “novel coronavirus”).

Coronaviruses are a common type of virus worldwide, but the COVID-19 version is a never-before-seen strain. It is loosely related to the SARS-CoV virus which broke out in 2003.

NI officials yesterday indicated that, once someone is confirmed to be carrying the virus, they will want to try and trace anyone who has been within a two-metre (6.5 foot) distance of the infected individual for 15-plus minutes (although just because someone has been this close for this long, it does not neccessarily mean they have the virus too).

This could mean tracing passengers who shared an aeroplane journey with them, for instance.