A MEDICAL practice in Brighton, the United Kingdom has been temporarily closed after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.

Patients at the city’s County Oak Medical Center have been advised to contact the country’s National Health Service’s 111 phone service if they have concerns.

The U.K. Department of Health has called the virus a “serious and imminent threat” to public health, but the overall risk to the population is “moderate.”

However, the risk to individuals is low, the department said.

A school in Southampton has also closed over concerns about the virus.

St. Mary’s Independent School said the “precautionary” three-day closure came after “members of the school community” became ill, having recently travelled to China.

Brackley Medical Center in Northamptonshire was also closed as a precautionary measure, but later reopened.

Four new U.K. cases were announced on Monday, taking the total number of people infected in the country to eight.

Two of the new cases are understood to be general medical practitioners, one of whom works at the County Oak Medical Center.

A sign put up at the surgery said it had been closed “for extensive cleaning as a precautionary measure” and would be open as soon as possible.

One of the eight U.K. cases is a British man who caught the virus at a conference in Singapore and then travelled to a ski resort in France.

He was diagnosed in Brighton and is being treated at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London.

He has been linked to five of the other cases. (SD-Agencies)