An outbreak of the coronavirus that has killed 28 people in the West Midlands has been linked to a church attended by a worshipper who did not realise they were a carrier.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the West Midlands was exploding as a coronavirus hotspot, alongside London.
There have been 28 fatalities from COVID-19 in the region, with nine at one NHS trust.
Two of the fatalities have been connected to a church where a congregant had continued to attend services, not realising they had been infected with the novel coronavirus, the Times reported.
A sparse number of shoppers at Birmingham Bull Ring market on March 19, 2020 in Birmingham, United Kingdom
A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre on Thursday in Birmingham, United Kingdom
A market stall owner sells protective masks at Birmingham Bull Ring market on Thursday in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Another source understood that the virus was only detected in one of the patients after their death, the Times reported.
They went on to say the congregation is made up of ‘people in their eighties’, vulnerable from working in ‘heavy industry in the Black Country’.
‘Full of smog, doing heavy engineering,’ they told the Times.
Yesterday, the Health Secretary confirmed the West Midlands is emerging as another coronavirus hotspot in Britain, alongside London.
Twenty-one infected patients have died at hospitals ran by three neighbouring NHS trusts in the vicinity of Birmingham.
They include the Royal Wolverhampton Trust, which has recorded nine fatalities – the highest death toll of any NHS hospital organisation in the UK.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted the Government was looking ‘very, very closely’ at why so many patients had died in the West Midlands.
Twelve more deaths have been recorded at two other NHS hospital groups near to the Royal Wolverhampton Trust.
NHS England have confirmed seven fatalities at the Dudley Group Foundation Trust and five at the West Birmingham Hospitals Trust.
Of the 135 deaths recorded across the whole of England, 34 are known to be in the Midlands – the equivalent of 25 per cent of all deaths.
Only London – which has four times more cases than any other region in England – has had more coronavirus fatalities (51).
Eight of those have been at the Barts Health Trust, while three separate trusts across the capital have confirmed six each.
The South East has recorded 21 deaths, while two patients have died in the South West and three victims have been announced in the East.
Ten coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in the North West, as well as five in the North East and Yorkshire region.
Across the home nations, six patients have died in Scotland, three in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.
Mr Hancock told Sky News the Government is looking ‘very, very closely’ at why there is a coronavirus hotspot in the West Midlands.
And he suggested that tougher measures could have to be brought in if people do not follow the Government’s advice.
He told the BBC’s Breakfast programme: ‘What I can say is that if people follow the advice, stay home, which saves lives, and if they keep apart from others – more than two metres, more than six foot – then we can tackle this and we can turn the tide.’
The Health Service Journal, which reported on the cluster of deaths in the West Midlands, claimed the cause of the spike has yet to be identified.
Hospital sources suggested the patients had mostly been the elderly or those with underlying health conditions.
Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor, made the plea to Matt Hancock on Twitter
A palliative care doctor today issued an impassioned plea to Mr Hancock, claiming London’s intensive care beds are nearing capacity.
Dr Rachel Clarke, from Oxfordshire, called on Mr Hancock to intercede and ask Boris Johnson to shut London’s pubs down.
In a dramatic call to action, she tweeted: ‘Matt, we won’t pull through without action. We need pubs, clubs & bars to be closed immediately.
‘London’s ITU beds are nearing capacity. London needs lockdown – now. If you care about humanity, then please – please – get the prime minister to act.’
Dr Clarke, who called Mr Johnson a ‘one-man public health comms disaster’, added: ‘I am literally begging you.’
It comes after toilet roll and food stocks were delivered to Downing Street yesterday as the prospect of a London lock down moved closer.
The bustling capital is known to be the epicentre of the UK’s crisis, with a third of the UK’s cases confirmed among the nine-million inhabitants.
The government has insisted London will not be completely cut off from the rest of the country, with ‘zero’ prospect’ of trains in and out of the capital being axed.
And it said there are ‘no plans’ to shut down the Tube system entirely, although some services have been pared back.
The PM’s spokesman also insisted it is ‘not true’ that only one person from each household will be allowed to leave their homes.
It comes after MailOnline yesterday revealed the UK’s coronavirus outbreak is one of the fastest escalating epidemics in Europe.
Almost 700 people were diagnosed with the virus on March 18 in the UK, more than in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Austria or Denmark.
This was 35 per cent more than the previous day, when there were 407 cases, and meant the total toll had almost doubled in two days from 1,523 to 2,626.
Another surge of cases saw the total number of patients in the UK surpass 3,200 yesterday. Hundreds more are expected today.
Only Italy, Spain, France and Germany are seeing faster growth but they all have significantly higher numbers of cases – each with at least 7,000 cases each.
Switzerland, which has a comparable number of patients to the UK, saw just 450 new cases between Tuesday and Thursday whereas Britain has had 1,083.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week acknowledged the epidemic was entering its ‘fast growth phase’ and scientists have said Britain and other countries are just weeks behind Italy, which is in the grip of the worst outbreak outside of China.