Hospital patient in his 80s is feared to be Britain’s second coronavirus death as child at Alder Hey Hospital tests positive for killer infection
A man in his 80s with underlying health conditions is feared to have become Britain’s second coronavirus death.
The unnamed patient is thought to have succumbed to the illness at Milton Keynes University Hospital in Buckinghamshire today.
Fellow patients on his ward have been isolated this morning and a deep clean has been carried out.
Doctors await official test results to confirm it was a case of COVID-19, according to a local newspaper. The patient is believed to be male and was in his late 80s.
It is understood he had underlying health conditions. Hospital staff who nursed with the patient have gone isolation and a detailed contact tracing exercise is now undertaken to trace anybody who had been in contact with him.
Family members and close contacts of the patient will be given advice and help. Today services at MK Hospital are running as normal.
The hospital has been contacted for comment. The first UK death from COVID-19 was reported on Thursday and was of a woman aged in her 70s at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
Latest figures show there have been 116 cases of COVID-19 in the UK out of nearly 18,000 people tested.
The elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease are believed to be the most vulnerable from the virus.