More than 1,300 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK, health officials have revealed – with eight confirmed cases in the country.

Two GP surgeries have closed, along with a nursing home and some schools, while health secretary Matt Hancock announced new powers to ensure those who pose a risk can be forcibly quarantined

Public Health England is in charge of ensuring all possible measures to contain the potentially deadly infection are put in place. So when a patient returns a positive result, what do those on the frontline do next?

Information gathering

The first crucial step in preventing the spread of the virus is to piece together the exact movements of the infected patient following the onset of symptoms – a process known as contact tracing.

Where have they been, who have they visited? Who are their family members, friends, work colleagues and acquaintances?

Carried out by experienced public health protection teams, this fact-finding mission allows experts to quickly reach as many people as possible to inform them they may also be at risk.

Risk assessment

Once a patient’s connections have been established, public health officials carry out an individual risk assessment on each person they are known to have had contact with. 

Contacts will then be categorised as high risk or low risk.

Closely-connected people, such as family members or those who have spent a prolonged period in close proximity to the patient and are deemed high risk, may be asked to self-isolate for 14 days. They will also have a daily contact assessment of their health and will be tested for the virus. 

Others who may have had more fleeting contact will be given advice on symptoms to look out for and what to do if they start to feel unwell, including emergency contact details.

Anyone who reports symptoms after exposure to the virus will be assessed and offered testing.

What counts as ‘close contact’?

‘Close and sustained contact’ means those who have been within two metres of a “confirmed clinical case” for 15 minutes or more. 

Public Health England says those who have not been in close contact with a positive-testing patient do not need to take any specific action. 

What about people travelling from abroad? 

Those who have travelled to mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and are experiencing respiratory symptoms (particularly a cough, fever or shortness of breath) are advised to stay indoors and call the NHS 111 helpline, even if their symptoms are mild.

PHE follows the exact same contact tracing process in suspected cases entering the UK, applying its information-gathering from the moment of arrival in the country, and uses translators to make sure everything is fully understood.

How effective is the system?

PHE’s protection team follows the same rigorous process when dealing with any infectious disease and its methods are tried and tested. 

They have been used in the past to contain outbreaks of measles, one of the most contagious diseases. 

The four new cases of coronavirus identified this week were all uncovered as a direct result of contact tracing.

“We now know the new cases announced today are all closely linked to one another,” a PHE spokesperson said.

“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.”

What happens next? 

Two of the newly-identified patients are healthcare workers, leading to the closure of two linked GP surgeries in Brighton, and teams are working on identifying all of the patients they may have had contact with. 

“As soon as they were identified, we advised them to self-isolate in order to keep patient contact to a minimum,” the PHE spokesperson added.

“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.”