The pharmacy, located in County Oak Medical Centre, was temporarily closed on Monday (February 10). It closed “for cleaning as a precaution, following advice from the local NHS”, a Lloydspharmacy spokesperson told C+D yesterday (February 11).

“All equipment and surfaces have now been thoroughly cleaned and patients can access the pharmacy as normal,” the spokesperson added.

The two GP practices in County Oak Medical Centre, Warmdene Surgery and Carden Surgery, were also cleaned. They reopened “as normal” today (February 12), offering a “limited service”, according to statements on their websites.

Four new cases

Four new coronavirus cases have been registered in the UK, “bringing the total number of cases to eight”, chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty announced on Monday.

The BBC reported yesterday that two of these cases are understood to be GPs, one of whom works at County Oak Medical Centre. Public Health England (PHE) could only confirm to C+D that two of the cases are “healthcare workers”.

“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,” PHE medical director Yvonne Doyle told C+D yesterday.

Meanwhile, health secretary Matt Hancock introduced The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 on Monday, giving NHS staff the powers “to keep individuals in isolation where public health professionals believe there is a reasonable risk an individual may have the virus”.

The Chinese National Health Commission confirmed a total of 1,113 deaths from the coronavirus, while the number of confirmed cases had risen to 44,653 as of yesterday (February 11).