Mapped: Where coronavirus has spread in the UK

As cases of coronavirus continue to rise in the UK, Sky News is tracking where the virus is spreading.

Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in all four home nations, with the majority in England.

Many of the patients contracted the virus abroad, in countries including Italy, Iran, China and France.

However, there have been more recent cases of people testing positive for COVID-19 despite not travelling to any affected areas.

This means they must have contracted the virus either directly or indirectly through an infected person in the UK.

Below is a map of the majority of the confirmed cases in Britain, and also details about some of those infected.

The first people to be diagnosed with the coronavirus in the UK were two members of the same family who had been staying at a hotel in York.

One was a student at the University of York and had recently returned from China.

A second spate of cases were linked to a businessman who contracted the coronavirus after attending a conference in Singapore.

The so-called ‘super-spreader’ Steve Walsh stayed at a French ski chalet before returning to the UK.

Five people who had come into contact with the man, including four from East Sussex, then tested positive for the virus in the UK.

A further four people were diagnosed with coronavirus after being flown back from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had been quarantined off the coast of Japan.

The patients had arrived at a quarantine site in Merseyside a day earlier.

A man from Haslemere, Surrey, became the first person to be infected with the virus in the UK.

Officials said it was not clear if he had contracted the virus “directly or indirectly” from somebody who had recently travelled abroad.

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It was later confirmed that three relatives of the Surrey patient had also tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, the first case in Northern Ireland was a patient in Belfast who had recently returned from northern Italy.

In Wales, a person from Swansea who had also visited Italy tested positive for the virus.

Scotland’s first case, a Tayside resident, was confirmed to have the virus on Monday.

A number of schools in England have closed over coronavirus fears, including Churston Ferrers Grammar School in Torbay, Devon, which announced on Monday that one of its students had the virus.

Willow Bank Infant School in Woodley, Reading, Wimbledon College in London and St Mary’s School in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, also closed for deep cleaning after staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

A second case in Gloucestershire was later linked to the staff member at St Mary’s School.

On Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed 12 more cases of the virus – but did not specify where they were reported.

Virus Outbreak: Global Emergency – Watch a special Sky News programme on coronavirus at 6pm weekdays.

(c) Sky News 2020: Mapped: Where coronavirus has spread in the UK