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Case Reports
. 2020 Aug 28:148:e194.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268820001922.

COVID-19: public health management of the first two confirmed cases identified in the UK

B Holden  1 , A Quinney  2 , S Padfield  1 , W Morton  1 , S Coles  1 , P Manley  3 , A Wensley  2 , C Hutchinson  4 , P J Lillie  5 , C J A Duncan  6 , M L Schmid  6 , A Li  7 , K Foster  8 , S Anaraki  9 , G Dabrera  10 , M Zambon  10 , G J Hughes  2 , M Gent  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

COVID-19: public health management of the first two confirmed cases identified in the UK

B Holden et al. Epidemiol Infect. .

Abstract

We report key learning from the public health management of the first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 identified in the UK. The first case imported, and the second associated with probable person-to-person transmission within the UK. Contact tracing was complex and fast-moving. Potential exposures for both cases were reviewed, and 52 contacts were identified. No further confirmed COVID-19 cases have been linked epidemiologically to these two cases. As steps are made to enhance contact tracing across the UK, the lessons learned from earlier contact tracing during the country's containment phase are particularly important and timely.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; emerging infections; respiratory infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Timeline detailing key settings and exposures where contact tracing took place; and the number of identified contacts of the first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 identified in the UK, January 2020. Please note: Case 2 is not included as an identified contact of Case 1 in this timeline.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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