Coronavirus: Birmingham individual tests positive for virus

The risk to the rest of Birmingham following the city's first confirmed case is 'very low'

Birmingham's first coronavirus case has been confirmed as the total number in the UK rose to 115.

The patient is thought to have contracted the virus at an event outside the city last week.

They are being treated in hospital though their symptoms are not severe, Birmingham City Council said.

In another case, believed to be unrelated, a primary school in Solihull closed as a precaution after a staff member came in contact with a patient.

Two cases have also been confirmed in Staffordshire, although authorities there have not revealed how the virus was contracted.

Two women walk past a sign providing guidance information about novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at one of the entrances to University College Hospital in London on March 5, 2020. - The number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus COVID-19 in the UK rose to 85 on March 4, with fears over the outbreak delaying the global release of the new James Bond movie and causing lack of demand for air travel that has proved the final nail in the coffin for British regional airline Flybe which went into administration on March 5.Getty Images

The total number of confirmed cases in the UK has risen to 115

Birmingham City Council said the patient tested positive for the virus after they were contacted by Public Health England (PHE) at the weekend following their return from a work trip.

'Low risk to city'

There is no suggestion the Birmingham case is linked to Bishop Wilson Primary School.

Solihull Council said the school would be deep-cleaned and emphasised there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the town.

PHE believes the risk to people locally is minimal, as the Birmingham patient spent most of their time outside the city.

"The testing was done very quickly, they were isolated, and that's why the risk to the city is very low," Dr Justin Varney, Birmingham City Council's director of public health, said.

Two people who had "household contact" have tested negative and are both self-isolating.

"We're not expecting it to have posed a risk to anyone else in the city," Dr Varney said.

There was "no significant risk to anyone else" in Staffordshire outside the county's confirmed cases, the health body said.

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