london britain has declared the new coronavirus that emerged from china a serious and imminent threat to public health and announced new measures monday to combat the spread of the diseasethe uk department of health and social care said people with the virus can now be forcibly quarantined and will not be free to leave it named two british specialist hospitals in london as isolation facilities for those affected guys and st thomas and the royal free it also designated the chinese city of wuhan and the surrounding hubei province where the virus first emerged as a infected areait said the number of virus cases in britain has doubled to eight with the four new cases reported monday all known contacts of an earlier uk case a person who was infected in france experts at public health england were working hard to trace people who have come into contact with confirmed casesthe incidence or transmission of novel coronavirus constitutes a serious and imminent threat to public health and the measures outlined in these regulations are considered as an effective means of delaying or preventing further transmission of the virus the agency saidit added the changes were designed to ensure the health and safety of both patients and medical workers britain has only eight of europes 43 confirmed virus cases but it is a key travel hub between asia and europeprime minister boris johnsons spokesman described the announcement as a measure to strengthen regulations and said it does not mean the threat to the public has increasedthe uk threat level as set by public health england and the chief medical officer remains unchanged at moderate said spokesman james slackthe change comes after a british man who caught the virus at a business conference in singapore in january appears to be linked to at least seven other confirmed cases in europefive british citizens including a 9yearold boy contracted the virus in the french alpine ski town of contaminesmontjoie after staying in the same chalet as the british man french medical authorities tested scores of children and their families sunday from the area for the new virus and temporarily closed three nearby schoolschina on monday said 908 people had died of the virus on the mainland and over 40170 had been infected more than 360 cases have been confirmed outside mainland china including two deaths in hong kong and the philippinesin brussels the european union commissioner for crisis management said monday that the new virus will be discussed thursday at an emergency meeting of health ministers from the 27member bloc janez lenarcic said the new virus is spreading with great speed and poses a serious danger for public healthover 500 eu citizens have been repatriated from china in the last few weeks to avoid being infected