Coronavirus: Pupils warning after school ski trip to Italy

Ysgol Friars is a secondary school in Bangor

Young skiers who went on a half-term school skiing trip to Italy have been told to stay at home from their north Wales school if they have "the mildest symptoms" of coronavirus.

Eleven towns in Lombardy and Veneto are in lockdown as 229 people have tested positive for the virus and seven died.

Students from Ysgol Friars in Bangor stayed at the same Lombardy resort as pupils from a Cheshire school that has been shut due to coronavirus fears.

Wales has no coronavirus cases.

The Lombardy and Veneto regions of northern Italy - areas which attract tourists to its ski resorts - have 11 towns in lockdown by police.

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China reported 508 new infections on Monday as the death toll rose to 2,663 while 10 people have died in South Korea and 15 in Iran.

There are 13 cases of Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in the UK but Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned: "We still expect more cases."

Pupils from the Gwynedd school stayed a week in the town of Bormio in the Italian Alps before returning home on Sunday.

In a letter to parents, Ysgol Friars' deputy headteacher David Healey said: "We have asked those that were on the trip with even the mildest symptoms (cough, difficulty breathing, fever) to go home and call NHS direct.

"I would like to stress that there has been no confirmed case of Covid-19 amongst the school population, but we wish to be cautious."

The quarantined towns in Italy are Bertonico, Casalpusterlengo, Castelgerundo, Castiglione d'Adda, Codogno, Fombio, Maleo, San Fiorano, Somaglia, Terranova dei Passerini - all in Lodi province in Lombardy - and Vo' Euganeo in Padova province, Veneto.

The updated advice means people returning from these Italian towns, or Iran, parts of South Korea and Hubei province in China - where the outbreak began - are being asked to call NHS 111, stay indoors and avoid contact with others, even if they do not have symptoms.

Anyone coming back from other parts of northern Italy and several Asian countries affected by the virus is advised to self-isolate and call NHS 111 if they develop symptoms.

The NHS says the symptoms of Covid-19 are a cough, a high temperature and shortness of breath - but they could also indicate other common illnesses such as a cold or flu.