As cases of coronavirus continue to rise in the UK, Sky News is tracking where the virus is spreading.

Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in all four home nations, with the majority in England.

Many of the patients contracted the virus abroad, in countries including Italy, Iran, China and France.

However, there have been more recent cases of people testing positive for COVID-19 despite not travelling to any affected areas.

This means they must have contracted the virus either directly or indirectly through an infected person in the UK.


Scroll through the map below to see how the virus began spreading through the country.

The first cases in the UK were a University of York student and their mother, who had both recently returned from China. A week later, businessman Steve Walsh, who contracted the virus in Singapore, tested positive. He stayed at a French ski chalet before returning to the UK. Five people were linked to Mr Walsh, four of them in East Sussex. Four people who had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan and later flown back to the UK tested positive for coronavirus. A man from Haslemere was the first person to become infected within the UK, although officials said it is unclear if he contracted it "directly or indirectly" from someone who travelled abroad. The cases went up to 51 on 3 March. These are the places where they were reported. As of 4 March, the government stopped releasing locations, but you can scroll down to read more about what we know so far.

Locations plotted on the map are approximate as the specific locations of some cases have not been disclosed.

The first case in Northern Ireland was a patient in Belfast who had recently returned from northern Italy.

In Wales, a person from Swansea who had also visited Italy tested positive for the virus.

Scotland's first case, a Tayside resident, was confirmed to have the virus on Monday.

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Two more people in Scotland tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, and a further three on Thursday.

A number of schools in England have closed over coronavirus fears, including Churston Ferrers Grammar School in Torbay, Devon, which announced on Monday that one of its students had the virus.

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Willow Bank Infant School in Woodley, Reading; Wimbledon College in London; and St Mary's School in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, also closed for deep cleaning after staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

A second case in Gloucestershire was later linked to the staff member at St Mary's School.

Bedelsford special needs school in Kingston has also closed after a staff member was being tested for the virus.

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