Nottinghamshire woman was the first person to contract coronavirus in the UK

A 75-year-old woman tested positive on February 21, analysis of samples by Nottingham University shows.

The woman hwo has not been identified was also thought to be the first person in the UK to die after contacting Covid 19. She died on March 3.

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A resident of Surrey was previously thought to have been the first to catch the virus.

The news has surfaced now after samples were analysed by researchers in retrospect .

Around 2,000 routine respiratory samples were taken from patients at the Queen’s medical centre between January and March

The report, which has not yet been peer reviewed, states: "Patient 1 in this study is, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest described community-acquired case of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK, admitted to hospital care on the 21st of February 2020, and was also the first UK COVID-19 death, preceding the earliest known death by 2 days."

The first transmission of coronavirus within the UK was thought to have occurred on 28 February.

But this new research suggests there were earlier home-grown cases.

Although the study comes from only one hospital in Nottingham, it signals that coronavirus was circulating undetected in Britain at least in early February 2020.

The work also revealed that early coronavirus cases in the UK would have been identified if testing criteria had at the time been less strict, say the scientists.

Prof Jonathan Ball, one of authors of the study, said there was "widespread community transmission of coronavirus" in Nottingham in early February.

However, the researchers said the cases went undetected because testing for coronavirus required a strict criteria to be met like a recent travel history.

The report also found a traveller who had returned from South Korea, who tested positive on the 28 February, had most likely caught the virus in Nottingham rather than in Korea, as had been assumed.

Prof Ball said: "Had the diagnostic criteria for Covid-19 been widened earlier to include patients with compatible symptoms but no travel history, it is likely that earlier imported infections would have been detected, which could have led to an earlier lockdown and lower deaths.

"However, the capacity for testing available nationally was not sufficient at the time to process the volume of testing required.

"In order to prepare for any future pandemic such as this, the UK urgently needs to invest in and expand diagnostic capacity within NHS and PHE diagnostic laboratory services."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "NHS Test and Trace is working, it's completely free and is stopping the spread of coronavirus.

"During this unprecedented pandemic we have rapidly built the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities in British history, meaning anyone with coronavirus symptoms can get a test."

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