A GP practice has texted its patients urging them not to attend the surgery if they fear they've contracted coronavirus.

West Timperley Medical Centre in Trafford has taken the extra step of contacting patients directly to pass on NHS advice on the illness.

The text urges patients who have recently visited China, or several other named Asian countries, and are displaying symptoms of the virus not to book an appointment.

Instead they are advised to contact the NHS helpline 111.

No-one was available to comment when the Manchester Evening News contacted the centre.

(Image: AP)

But it's understood the surgery hasn't received any patients who feared they had coronavirus.

Bosses decided to take the extra step of contacting patients directly as a precautionary measure to ensure that national advice on the virus was passed on.

On Monday afternoon the BBC reported that a GP practice in Brighton had been temporarily closed after a staff member tested positive for the virus.

The government has declared coronavirus a 'serious and imminent threat to public health'.

Earlier today, it was confirmed that the total number of coronavirus cases in the UK now stands at eight, following a further four confirmed cases.

Five British nationals have also tested positive in France.

Chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, said the four people infected are all understood to be contacts of a businessman who was diagnosed in Brighton last week and who contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore.

On his way back to the UK, he visited a chalet in a ski region of France, where five other Britons were subsequently taken ill with the virus.

Prof Whitty 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.

"Four more patients in England have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to eight."

Across the UK, a total of 1,114 people have been tested for coronavirus.

Worldwide the number of cases now stands at more than 40,000 with the death toll at 910.