Two New Coronavirus Cases Announced in UK on Monday Involve Healthcare Workers - Reports

Earlier in the day, the British government officially announced that the new coronavirus was a serious and imminent threat to public health in the country.

Reuters reported on Monday, citing Public Health England, that two of the new coronavirus cases registered in the UK earlier in the day involve healthcare workers being infected.

"We are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage, we believe this to be a relatively small number," Public Health England Medical Director Yvonne Doyle said as quoted by the agency.

The day before, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care confirmed the fourth case of coronavirus, adding that the patient was infected in France.

The news come as London has evacuated 200 British nationals and citizens of other European countries from China’s coronavirus-affected city of Wuhan.

The new strain of coronavirus — 2019-nCoV — was first detected in December in Wuhan, and has since spread to more than 20 countries. Currently, the death toll from the illness is more than 900 in China, with the total number of registered cases exceeding 40,000.