Patients told to stay away from Fylde coast GP practices if they have coronavirus symptoms under these circumstances

An email from Patient Access, which practices use to deal with appointments and prescriptions, yesterday said those with a cough, fever, of shortness of breath within two weeks of returning from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand should instead call NHS 111.

They should do the same if they have the same symptoms after coming into contact with someone confirmed to have the coronavirus, which was today named Covid-19 by the director general of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Dr Ghebreyesus told a press conference yesterday 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”.

He said: “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising.

“It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks."