CORONAVIRUS has so far not been detected in any part of Shropshire, a public health boss has said.

The county-wide Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee also heard  potential patients are largely following NHS advice and using 111 rather than going straight to their doctor or hospital.

Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital has a dedicated testing “pod” up and running in a prefabricated annexe, and a second at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is due to open “by the end of the week”, CCG chief officer David Evans said.

Telford and Wrekin Council public health director Liz Noakes said, as of Sunday night, 11,750 people across the UK had been tested for COVID-19, and none of the 35 positive results have been in Shropshire.

She said the incident response has being managed by Public Health England, NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care.

“The risk to the general public is considered to be moderate,” Ms Noakes said, adding that 80 per cent of those infected only experience mild symptoms.

“At the moment we are in the containment phase of the incident. Locally, the hospital trust [Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust] has a pod in place at the PRH and people requiring testing are directed into it through NHS 111.”

Shropshire Council director of public health Rachel Robinson said government advice to use the non-emergency 111 service in suspected coronavirus cases was being followed.

Mr Evans said calls to the line had increased by 50 per cent nationally in the past week, and more call handlers were being trained.

Committee member Heather Kidd, who represents Chirbury and Worthen in southwest Shropshire, said: “If the pod is at the PRH, access is tricky for many people.

“There are access issues for the rural areas where there is no public transport, and you wouldn’t want them travelling on buses anyway.”

Ms Robinson said patients across Shropshire were being sent to the Telford facility for now, but “that is why we are moving to community testing”.

She added that a second pod, at the RSH, was being set up.

Mr Evans said: “It should be up by the end of this week.”

A pre-paredness statement, provided by Ms Noakes and Ms Robinson for the committee, said the Shropshire Local Health Resilience Partnership includes representatives from NHSE, SaTH and other NHS trusts, Public Health England, both Clinical Commissioning Groups and both local authorities.

In the UK, it said, the risk to the general public from COVID-19 “is considered to be moderate, as the infection and death rates for the virus appear to be broadly similar to seasonal flu”.

People who have returned from Iran, some parts of northern Italy, the South Korean cities of Cheongdo or Daegu and China’s Hubei province should call 111 and avoid contact with others even if they do not have symptoms. Further advice and information from Public Health England is available at www.gov.uk/coronavirus