Experts slam government decision to withhold locations of new coronavirus cases

Experts have slammed health officials over a decision to delay the release of location information of where coronavirus cases are found.

Professor Paul Ashford, former north-west regional director of Public Health England, has criticised the government’s decision to conceal the localities of new infections until the Friday of each week.  

‘They should be sharing the data as much as possible, to make the public equal partners in tackling this and help them make decisions about their own lives. 

‘The public needs to know if it’s in their area on a daily basis,’ he told the Guardian newspaper. 

He criticised the government further for talking about ‘public involvement’ while failing to include Britons in decisions. 

According to another expert, the lack of dialogue from officials could lead to rumours and fake news circulating. 

‘I think it’s an incredibly ill-advised decision. If it’s not released officially, it creates an information vacuum and it will be filled by unreliable sources,’ Dr Jennifer Cole, biological anthropologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, told the Guardian.  

Dr Cole, who researched the transfer of information during the Ebola crisis in 2014, claims the decision could open the NHS and government to accusations of hiding information from the public. 

Some countries have sought to make the public as aware as possible, with South Korea sending signals should the citizen come in close proximity to a known infectee.  

Ministers are now expected to escalate their response which would mean no longer trying to ‘contain’ the disease’s seemingly inevitable spread

Ministers are expected to escalate their response to the coronavirus after the largest increase in one day, which would mean no longer trying to ‘contain’ the disease’s seemingly inevitable spread.

Instead, the focus will be on ‘delaying’ the peak of the epidemic until the spring or summer – in the hope that consequences for the nation would be far less severe.

Yesterday, the Department of Health announced that 36 new patients had been diagnosed with the disease, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 87.

It came as scientists warned that a new, more aggressive strain of coronavirus had emerged in China.

The growing scale of the outbreak has triggered huge public concern, with signs of panic buying in supermarkets and people travelling on public transport in makeshift masks. 

In an interview yesterday, Professor Whitty warned the virus was probably already spreading person-to-person in the UK and an epidemic was looking ‘likely’. On another dramatic day: 

• Italy took the extraordinary step of closing all schools and universities until next month and prepared to shut down cinemas and theatres after the death toll in the country rose to 107;
• Researchers believe the original strain of the Covid-19 virus has mutated into a more aggressive type after crossing from animals into humans in Wuhan late last year;
• In response to panic buying in shops, it emerged retailers are considering rationing essentials such as toilet paper and anti-bacterial cleaners;
• It also emerged Parliament could be shut for months, with members asked to vote remotely, in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus;
• Boris Johnson spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss an international response to the outbreak;
• Andrew Bailey, who will take over as the new Bank of England governor on March 16, said he had already discussed plans for an emergency lending package for business;
• The producers of the new James Bond film announced that its release was being put back by seven months;
• Ministers said workers would get statutory sick pay from the first day they are off work, not the fourth;
• The Italy vs England Six Nations game was postponed.