(LONDON) — A middle-aged businessman from England who vacationed in the Alps has illustrated how the ease of international travel is complicating global efforts to track and contain the new coronavirus that emerged in China.
Steve Walsh issued a statement Tuesday after becoming the focus of intense media coverage once it became apparent that he may have unwittingly helped to spread the new coronavirus to Europe. Walsh had come into contact with the virus after a business trip to Singapore in January. He then went to a ski resort in the French Alps, potentially infecting other people before he was diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized.
“I would like to thank the National Health Service for their help and care,’’ Walsh said. “Whilst I have fully recovered, my thoughts are with others who have contracted coronavirus.’’
Read more: Why We Are So Ill-Prepared for a Possible Pandemic Like Coronavirus
Five Britons who stayed with Walsh at a chalet in in Contamines-Montjoie, a resort in the Mont Blanc region, have been diagnosed with the virus, including a 9-year-old boy. Another man who stayed at the French ski resort was discovered infected after returning home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
His case prompted French health authorities to test 61 other children and family members at the resort and temporarily close some schools there, but they all tested negative.
Walsh flew back to Britain on Jan. 28 on an EasyJet flight from Geneva to London’s Gatwick Airport. The airline did not disclose how many people were aboard but said England’s public health agency is contacting all passengers who were seated near the man.
Once back in Britain, the businessman visited The Grenadier pub in Hove, which said it was told by the public health agency that there was “minimal ongoing risk of infection” to guests or staff. A school in the community, Portslade Community Academy, said that one its students has been told to “self isolate,’’ the local Brighton Argus newspaper reported.
“It does appear that the index case has passed on the infection to an unusually large number of contacts,’’ said Dr. Andrew Freedman, an expert on infectious diseases at Cardiff University.
Walsh said as soon as he realized he had been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, he spoke to his doctor and public health authorities.
“I was advised to attend an isolated room at the hospital, despite showing no symptoms, and subsequently self-isolated at home as instructed,” he said. “When the diagnosis was confirmed, I was sent to an isolation unit in hospital, where I remain, and, as a precaution, my family was also asked to isolate themselves.’’
The virus has infected more than 42,000 people globally and killed over 1,000, with the overwhelming majority of cases in China. It is unclear exactly how it is transmitted, but experts think it is spread mostly by droplets when people cough or sneeze. Health officials warn it can take up to 14 days for those who have been exposed to show symptoms.
Read more: The Coronavirus Outbreak Could Derail Xi Jinping’s Dreams of a Chinese Century
Most people have only mild symptoms such as a fever and runny nose. But some develop pneumonia. Those who have fallen severely ill have been mostly over 60 with other health problems.
Walsh flew to Singapore for a Jan. 20-22 event sponsored by his employer, Servomex. The company, based in the town of Crowborough, 35 miles south of London, makes industrial sensors sold around the world.
In a statement, Servomex said it was working with public health authorities “to ensure the welfare of our staff and communities and wish anyone with the virus a quick and full recovery.” The apparent ease with which virus spread raises concern that some of the 90 others who attended the conference may also have been infected and “may go on to initiate chains of infection in their home countries,’’ said Dr. Nathalie MacDermott, a clinical lecturer at King’s College London.
The World Health Organization warned that given the relatively small cluster so far, it would be unfair and an exaggeration to characterize Walsh as a “super-spreader,” or someone who infects an unusually large number of people. And this is by no means the only cluster seen in the outbreak.
Another small one, for example, was tied to a Chinese woman who traveled to a meeting at a German auto parts company. The virus spread to a dozen employees and their family members in Germany.
But the case of this single traveler from England underscores the importance of quick cross-border information-sharing and detective work to find other people potentially exposed.
The virus has infected more than 40,000 people globally and killed over 900, with the overwhelming majority of cases in China. It is unclear exactly how it is transmitted, but experts think it is spread mostly by droplets when people cough or sneeze. Health officials warn that it can take up to 14 days for those who have been exposed to show symptoms.
Most people have only mild symptoms such as a fever and runny nose. But some develop pneumonia. Those who fallen severely ill have been mostly over 60 with other health problems.
WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the spread of the virus among people like Walsh, who haven’t been to China, is concerning.
“The detection of the small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire, but for now it’s only a spark,’’ he said. “Our objective remains containment. We call on all countries to use the window of opportunity we have to prevent a bigger fire.”
The Grand Hyatt Singapore, a five-star hotel with 677 guest rooms, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health informed it that three people who attended the conference experienced symptoms after returning to their home countries of Malaysia and South Korea and have now been diagnosed with the virus.
The hotel said 94 foreigners stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the same time as the Servomex conference, including people from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak. The hotel said it is now deep-cleaning guest rooms, meeting spaces, restaurants, the fitness center and other public areas.
During the 2002-03 SARS outbreak, the deadly disease made its way to the wider world after a Chinese doctor who had treated patients on the mainland checked into a Hong Kong hotel.
He ultimately infected six other hotel guests staying on the same floor, possibly when he sneezed or coughed as they were waiting for an elevator, according to Hong Kong health authorities. Some of those guests then took SARS to Canada, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore, seeding new outbreaks.
But Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said: “It’s way too early and much more of an exaggeration to consider the Singapore conference event a superspreading event.”
___
Associated Press writers Maria Cheng In London, Elaine Ganley and Angela Charlton in Paris and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.
