Coronavirus in the UK: Two prisoners being tested after showing flu-like symptoms One prisoner had been transferred from Thailand

This post has been updated to correct facts about the status of the Coronavirus testing

A prisoner who is being tested for coronavirus at a British prison had been transferred from a jail in Thailand, it has been reported.

Two prisoners are being tested for the virus at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, Oxfordshire, and are being kept in isolation in their cells. The prison has a capacity of 1,114 inmates. According to reports, the prison wing where the men lived is in lockdown for at least 72 hours while checks are made.

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The two affected criminals are understood to be being treated in a specialist hospital outside of prison walls. They were both reported to be suffering flu-like symptoms.

Official coronavirus named

The testing came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially named the virus COVID-19. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general, told a press conference a name was decided that “did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease”.

A British man dubbed a ‘super spreader’ of the disease is thought to have passed it on to 11 others, but is now healthy.

Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told a press conference: “I really wish we could refrain from personalising these issues down to individuals who spread disease. This is deeply, deeply unhelpful.”

British prevention push

Also on Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs in the Commons that new funding was being launched immediately “to support any urgent works the NHS needs for the coronavirus response, such as the creation of further isolation areas and other necessary facilities.”

Earlier, Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England (PHE), said “contact tracing” run by PHE was “working very well”.

He added: “I should say that the people who are of concern are those who have had very close contact with somebody with coronavirus, face-to-face contact or within a two-metre range for 15 minutes or more.”

Prof Cosford said PHE was working to trace the small number of contacts of the two doctors, including a Brighton GP, who were among the four new cases announced on Monday.