Coronavirus patients are told to recover at HOME: People who have just mild symptoms will not be hospitalised as at least 45 people with the virus are already treating themselves in self-isolation with daily phone calls from health officials
- The Department of Health confirmed not everyone will be sent to hospital
- Younger, healthy patients who catch the virus will be told to recover at home
- A total of 116 people in the UK have now been diagnosed with the virus
- 18 of them have recovered, 45 are at home and one has died
- The rest are believed to still be in hospitals around the country
Coronavirus patients are no longer all being admitted to hospital, British health officials have confirmed.
Anyone confirmed to have the virus who is not seriously unwell or at risk of becoming more dangerously infected can recover at home.
At least 45 people out of the 116 confirmed in the UK have already been instructed to stay in their own houses and wait for their illness to blow over.
Until the new rule was drafted – it is not clear when it began – all confirmed patients had to be taken to a specialist hospital unit in one of five locations around the country, some hundreds of miles from their hometowns.
An extra 29 cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in the UK today, bringing the total to 116 – 105 in England, six in Scotland, three in Northern Ireland and two in Wales.
Officials said it was ‘perfectly reasonable’ for people to recover at home because COVID-19 is a ‘mild illness’.
NHS hospitals are no longer keeping all confirmed coronavirus cases as inpatients and dozens will be told to recover at home where they pose less of a risk to the public
Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for the government, said that most people with minor cases of the virus will no longer be hospitalised
An extra 29 cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in the UK today, bringing the total to 116 – 105 in England, six in Scotland, three in Northern Ireland and two in Wales
Chief medical officer for the government, Professor Chris Whitty, said that most people with minor cases of the virus will no longer be hospitalised.
Instead they will be asked to stay at home, where they pose less of a risk to other people.
Professor Whitty told reporters: ‘We have moved to a situation where if people have very minimal symptoms – so we think they are clinically safe and they are able to self isolate – we think it is actually safer for them as well as actually more pleasant if they can self isolate in their own homes, with support.
‘Anybody who needs hospitalisation will be hospitalised in a specialist centre as needed.’
The coronavirus causes a disease called COVID-19, which has symptoms similar to flu – a fever, cough and breathing difficulties.
He added: ‘In the long run, to be clear, if we were to get a significant epidemic our advice would definitely be stay at home.
‘It would not make any sense for people with mild symptoms to come into the NHS. That would not benefit them and not benefit anyone else.’
Of the 116 cases so far, 18 people have already recovered from the infection, said Public Health England’s Dr Susan Hopkins.
One person has died, the NHS confirmed this afternoon – an ‘older person’ at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
The patient had underlying health conditions and had only been diagnosed last night, the hospital said.
In a statement, the NHS trust which runs the hospital said: ‘Sadly, we can confirm that an older patient with underlying health conditions has died.
‘The patient has previously been in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, but on this occasion was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus.
‘The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.’
Older people are most at risk of dying from the COVID-19 disease because they have weaker immune systems owing to natural decline as they age.
This is believed to be the reasoning behind the Government’s decision to tell younger people to recover at home.
A large number of hospital patients are elderly and coronavirus patients may be more likely to infect them if they are kept as inpatients.
And, if their illness is mild and they are only there to keep them away from the public, they will place added strain on NHS resources.
This is especially likely as the number of people infected in Britain is expected to rise significantly in the coming weeks – Professor Whitty has said it is ‘very likely’ the UK will see an epidemic.