The County Oak Medical Centre where a GP who has the virus works, is deep cleaned

Conversations about miniature bottles of antibacterial hand sanitiser are normally far from a mainstay of lunchtime pub chitchat.

However, such is the anxiety over the coronavirus that locals in the Grenadier in Hove yesterday readily admitted to changing their hand-washing routines.

Brighton and Hove appears to be at the centre of a possible coronavirus outbreak in Britain after a so-called super-spreader spent time there on his return from a conference in Singapore, where he had contracted the virus. Before falling ill, the unidentified man spent a Saturday evening on February 1 in the Grenadier.

The Yun Feng food store put up a sign asking shoppers to wear gloves and masks EDDIE MITCHELL

Patrons may have been undeterred from drinking there yesterday but they were taking precautions. Danny Seals, 46, an electrician, said: “I’m always washing my hands now. We’re all talking about it.