London has seen its first case of coronavirus after a woman, who picked up the virus in China, was diagnosed.

Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said: "One further patient in England has tested positive for novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to nine." Prof Whitty added: "This virus was passed on in China and the patient has now been transferred to a specialist NHS centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London."

Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health at the University of Southampton, said it was not not surprising that London had seen its first case. He said: "It’s a city of over 10m people with several major international airports." Both London and the rest of the UK could expect to see more cases, "though hopefully these will continue to be isolated cases and seen in small numbers".