Report published into handling of UK's first Covid-19 cases - who fell ill in York and were treated in Hull

On January 26, a 50-year-old Chinese woman staying at the hotel with her partner and son developed a fever, cough and sore throat. Two days later, on January 29, her 23-year-old son began to feel unwell with a high temperature, muscle pain and a dry cough.

He phoned NHS 111 and the mother and son were judged to be at risk of having Covid-19. The University of York student had travelled back to the UK from Hubei province in China, of which Wuhan is the capital city, almost two weeks before becoming unwell.

As a result, both mother and son were taken straight to the regional infectious diseases unit at Castle Hill Hospital in Hull. They were treated in separate rooms by nurses and doctors wearing personal protective equipment.

The team of doctors which treated the first patients said they had “little understanding” about what they were dealing with at the time.

Speaking at an annual general meeting of the hospital trust in July 2020, doctors Anda Samson, Patrick Lillie and Nick Easom spoke about their journey since receiving the first patients on January 29 - an event that interrupted a night out to celebrate a colleague’s retirement at a restaurant in Beverley.

Dr Samson said: “We had received a phone call from a GP in York saying they had some people who had arrived from China and they were showing symptoms that might be consistent with coronavirus. We had a couple of warnings beforehand so we didn’t really think much of it at the time but of course, advised that they were tested.

“The decision was taken to send the patients to Newcastle, which was part of the national high consequence infectious diseases network.”

The team and colleagues wrote a paper for the Journal of Infection about their experiences.

Mother and son were transferred to the high-level isolation unit in Newcastle on January 31 and three days after being admitted, the woman’s symptoms had cleared up. Four days after being admitted, the student’s symptoms had also resolved.

The paper says both had relatively mild and short illnesses. They were able to come out of isolation after two negative Covid tests. And the woman’s partner did not develop any symptoms or return a positive Covid test within 14 days of contact with the pair.

In a letter to The Lancet, the doctors from the team at Hull said neither of the first coronavirus patients met the criteria and if it had been strictly applied, they may not have been tested for Covid-19. But the decision to carry out the tests was made because of medics' suspicions.

Public Health England traced 52 people who may have come into contact with the patients, including 45 healthcare workers. The group had also taken journeys by taxi and the taxi drivers were asked to self-isolate.

But none tested positive for coronavirus and no further cases were linked to the first two patients, according to a paper in journal Epidemiology and Infection. The report says little was known about how the virus might contaminate surfaces, highlighting the need to more research.