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Two confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK have been confirmed as healthcare workers and an appeal has been launched to find patients they've come into contact with.

The two workers have been told to self-isolate but Public Health England is working urgently to find any patients and healthcare workers who may have come into close contact with them.

Eight people in the UK have now been diagnosed with the virus, with five of those closely linked to a businessman who was told he had it last week in Brighton.

Public Health England Medical Director, Yvonne Doyle, said: “As a result of our contact tracing we now know the new cases announced today are all closely linked to one another.

"Our priority has been to speak to those who have close and sustained contact with confirmed cases, so we can advise them on what they can do to limit the spread of the virus.

“Two of these new cases are healthcare workers and as soon as they were identified, we advised them to self-isolate in order to keep patient contact to a minimum.

"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.

“We would like thank all those who have followed public health advice and have taken the necessary steps to reduce the risk to the general public.”

(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

Earlier today it was reported that a GP practice was forced to close after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.

Workers wearing protective suits and masks were doing a deep clean at the County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton in the latest scare to hit the East Sussex city.

It had emerged that four people in Brighton, including a male doctor, had caught the flu-like illness during a recent ski trip in the French Alps, doubling the total number of UK cases to eight.

Those four cases are linked to a middle-aged Brighton man - dubbed a "super spreader" - who caught the potentially deadly bug at a business conference in Singapore between January 20 and 23, and then passed it to others during the ski trip.

(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

Dr Catriona Greenwood, a GP who used to work at the County Oak Medical Centre, and her husband Bob Saynor hosted the skiers at a chalet where they now live.

Mr Saynor and the couple's nine-year-old son both contracted the virus and are being treated in hospital in France.

After leaving Singapore, the infected businessman stayed at a chalet in Les Contamines-Montjoie in the French Alps - where the virus was passed on to at least 11 others - between January 24 and 28, the day he returned to the UK on an easyJet flight from Geneva.

(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

Health officials are now urgently trying to trace and warn people who had contact with the infected Brits, including people who attended the GP surgery in Brighton and travellers on the flight from Geneva on January 28.

A staff member at the County Oak Medical Centre, located near to a primary school, was among the latest to be diagnosed with coronavirus, the BBC reported.

Callers are greeted with a voice recording saying: "Unfortunately the building has had to close due to an urgent operational health and safety reason."

They are advised to call NHS 111 if they have any concerns.

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As of 2pm on Monday 10 February, a total of 1,114 tests were concluded across the UK with 1,106 confirmed negative and eight positive, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed.

Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty earlier said: "Four further patients in England have tested positive for novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to eight.

"The new cases are all known contacts of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France.

"Experts at Public Health England continue to work hard tracing patient contacts from the UK cases. They successfully identified these individuals and ensured the appropriate support was provided.

"The patients have been transferred to specialist NHS centres at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and The Royal Free hospitals, and we are now using robust infection control measures to prevent further spread of the virus.

"The NHS is extremely well prepared to manage these cases and treat them, and we are working quickly to identify any further contacts these patients have had. For the latest advice visit gov.uk/coronavirus."

Alarm over the coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in December is driven by its rapid spread and the fact that infectious disease experts cannot yet know how deadly or contagious it is.

It has killed more than 900 people, most of them in China, and has spread to at least 27 countries and territories.

The two deaths outside mainland China were in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The new cases in England were all known contacts of a previously confirmed British patient in France, and were identified by public health officials working to trace possible cases.

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