A COUPLE with a son at a £5,000-a-term prep school in Surrey have been struck with the deadly coronavirus as officials scramble to find the 'super spreader' who infected them, it has been reported.
A husband and wife have been diagnosed with Covid-19 as other parents have been placed in self isolation after coming in contact with them.
Their son is in self isolation and has not yet tested positive for the bug that has already infected 53 people across the country.
It is unclear how the husband and wife contracted the virus as health officials in the Surrey area are scrambling to trace anyone they came in contact with, the Mail Online reports.
Meanwhile, a student at another school in South West London has tested positive for coronavirus.
The pupil at The Kingston Academy (TKA) was diagnosed with COVID-19 following a "recent return from a Category-2 area", a spokesman for the secondary school confirmed.
TKA would remain open today and the family of the student – who wasn't symptomatic in school – have now self-isolated.
Head teacher Sophie Cavanagh said: "I understand the COVID-19 situation is worrying, but we are following guidance given in conversation with Public Health England.
"Our pupils and staff and their families are our priority – we are following all advice being given by experts in this area.
"I am pleased to say that the pupil concerned is doing well. If students and staff are not experiencing any symptoms, they should attend school as normal."
Over the weekend, Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, confirmed two people from Surrey and two from West Sussex has been infected with the virus and are part of a "family cluster".
Headmaster Adam Walker of St Edmunds in Hindhead, the son's prep school, confirmed in a statement that the parents of one of their pupils had the virus.
He said the son is "well and self isolating" as a precautionary measure and no other pupil or teacher had the virus.
The school is still open following the advice of Public Health England, but was getting deep cleaned.
Mr Walker said there is a "very low risk to children" and that it has been "business as usual".
What you can do to help in the UK fight against coronavirus
- Follow public health advice on handwashing regularly for at least 20 seconds
- Reduce the impact and spread of misinformation by only relying on trusted sources like the NHS website, and Gov.UK
- Check and follow the latest FCO travel advice when travelling and planning to travel
- Ensure you and your family's vaccinations are up to date to reduce pressures on the NHS
- Checking on vulnerable family, friends and neighbours
- Using NHs 111, pharmacies and GPs responsible, and only go the hospital when you really need to
- Being understanding of the pressures the health and social care systems may be under and receptive to changes
- Accepting that the advice for managing the illness for most people will be self-isolating at home and over the counter medications
- Checking for new advice as the situation changes
The couple, who have not been named, were at the epicentre of the outbreak in Haslemere over the weekend.
The town's health centre and a pub were shut amid fears a "super spreader" had visited both.
The Haslemere Health Centre closed over the weekend but re-opened after a deep clean.
St Edmunds has 470 pupils aged from two to 16.
The full statement from the school said: "In the past few days St Edmund's school was made aware that the father and mother of one of the pupils has been confirmed as cases of COVID-19.
"Contact assessments have been made for each parent and several other parents of the school have gone into self-isolation as a precaution.
"The pupil is well and is self-isolating at home as a precautionary measure. No pupil or member of staff has been confirmed as a case of the virus."
BATTLE READY
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed his "battle plan" to kill off the deadly bug in the UK on Tuesday.
Soldiers could be deployed to guard vital sites so the police are free to deal with "maintaining public order", the Government said today in a 25-page doomsday plan on Covid-19.
And up to one in five could be off work sick during the peak of the crisis, it was predicted.
his battle plan to save as many lives as possible while ensuring Britain goes about business as usual.
It includes sweeping measures which will be considered in the coming weeks, such as shutting down schools, banning mass gatherings, cancelling NHS operations and encouraging people to work from home.
The PM told a packed press conference at No10 yesterday: "The army is of course always ready as and when, but that is under the worst case scenario."
Plans are in place for anything from a mild pandemic through to a severe prolonged pandemic as experienced in 1918 known as Spanish Flu.
Police could also be told to switch their focus to only tackle "serious crime"if emergency services start to buckle under pressure.
NHS England said we have been at a Level 4 since January.
NHS England has mandated hospitals test all patients in intensive care who are showing signs of a lung infection for coronavirus.
All trusts have been ordered to set up 24 hour, seven-day a week incident teams that will be overseen by regional and national teams to coordinate the NHS response in the event of a surge of cases.
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NHS chiefs have also been told to draft up plans to segregate wards such as A&E department, critical care and diagnostic areas amid fears of a "significant escalation" in cases.
NHS England have also ordered hospitals to review their numbers of intensive care beds and how they could be increased.
Professor Keith Willett, NHS England’s strategic incident director, sent a letter today to health chiefs instructing hospitals to "review your critical care and high dependency capacity and consider how you could increase capacity and the impact of doing so", the Independent reported.
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