SHROPSHIRE’S first coronavirus case has been diagnosed in a patient who recently returned from Italy, a local NHS chief has confirmed.

Corporate affairs director Sam Tilley told a Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) governance board that this was the first positive out of 145 tests carried out in the county.

A joint statement by Public Health England and Shropshire Council, released shortly after Mrs Tilley’s announcement, confirmed the case was in the local authority area and the patient is now in self-isolation.

David Evans, the chief officer for both the county’s CCG, said the situation regarding the COVID-19 virus outbreak was changing “almost hourly”, but he was “as confident as he can be that we have the right resource and infrastructure to deal with the situation”.

Travel restrictions and other emergency measures were introduced in parts of northern Italy, then extended to the whole of the country as of Tuesday, March 10.

Mrs Tilley said dedicated coronavirus testing “pods” were in place at both the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital. “Community testing” was also taking place, and “drive-through testing” was planned.

“As of yesterday (Monday, March 9) afternoon, we had 145 individuals who had come forward for testing, a relatively low number,” she said.

“However, we have had our first positive case confirmed.

“We are working very closely with PHE in terms of relevant contact tracing.

“The individual has recently travelled back to England from Italy, so there is an obvious line of contact from where they may have picked up the virus.”

She did not give any further details about the patient’s personal information or location.

Mrs Tilley added: “It is highly likely we will have further positive cases.

“We need to reinforce messages around the importance of hand hygiene and all those common message you are seeing in the press in terms of steps you might take to manage flu symptoms. All those messages are very relevant and important.

“We also not to reiterate that this is not a cause for panic.

“We need to respond to this calmly and rationally. We will come out of this the other side.”

Mrs Tilley added that training in virus management and patient handling would be rolled out to staff at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust “as is required”.

Mr Evans said: “I’m as confident as I can be that we have the right resource and the right infrastructure in place to deal with the situation.

“However, it is changing on an almost hourly, certainly daily, basis, and we will continue to review the emergency preparedness plans.”

PHE West Midlands deputy director Katie Spence said close contacts of the confirmed patient will be given “health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed case”.

She added: “We will not be commenting further on the details of this particular case due to need to protect patient confidentiality.”

Shropshire Council public health director Rachel Robinson said the patient, who was tested in the community, is currently self-isolating.

For more information about COVID-19, visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus