https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8091147/Wales-confirms-two-cases-killer-coronavirus-UKs-infection-toll-reaches-280.htmlMan in his 70s becomes the FIFTH person to die of the coronavirus in the UK as number of cases jumps to 321
NHS sources say the latest victim was a man in his 70s who had a number of long-term health conditions
His death came after the Health Secretary this afternoon announced the fourth death a woman in her 70s
Officials today confirmed 48 more coronavirus cases in Britain, including five in Scotland and two in Wales
Figures show there are now 280 cases are in England, 23 in Scotland, 12 in Northern Ireland and six in Wales
A man in his 60s in Manchester yesterday became the third patient in Britain to die from the killer coronavirus
Do you have a story about the coronavirus? Email connor.boyd@mailonline.co.uk or ring 020 361 51181
By Connor Boyd Health Reporter For Mailonline and Stephen Matthews Health Editor For Mailonline and Sam Blanchard Senior Health Reporter For Mailonline and David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent For Mailonline
Published: 10:20, 9 March 2020 | Updated: 19:20, 9 March 2020
Two more patients have died from the killer coronavirus in the UK after the number of cases spiked to 321 today, officials have confirmed. MailOnline understands the latest victim was a man in his 70s who was 'very unwell' and had a number of long-term health conditions'. He passed away at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, south London. His death came after Health Secretary Matt Hancock this afternoon announced the fourth death a woman in her 70s at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital who also had several other underlying conditions. She caught the illness in the UK. It comes after a man in his 60s, in Manchester, became the third person to die yesterday. Last week a woman in her 70s in Reading and a man in his 80s in Milton Keynes also succumbed to the life-threatening infection. Health chiefs today confirmed 48 more patients, including five in Scotland and two in Wales, had been diagnosed with the illness which has left millions living in fear. Britain's total infection toll now sits at 321, with the number having risen almost eight-fold in the space of a week. Outbreaks in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain have also dramatically increased in size. Fears thousands may unknowingly be infected were today raised after a patient already in hospital tested positive for the killer virus despite having no known risk factors or travel history. In hope of delaying an inevitable crisis, Boris Johnson today called an emergency meeting to discuss how Britain can slow the outbreak, but the Prime Minister did not order any stricter rules to be put in place to stop the virus. Stepping up the Government's response could see the roll-out of drastic public health measures including shutting schools, banning large public events, encouraging people to work from home and cancelling thousands of non-urgent NHS operations. Despite the ever-growing threat of a crisis on British soil, thousands of passengers arriving from northern Italy the centre of Europe's outbreak were today let through UK airports without any health checks. World financial markets have crashed because of the crisis, which shows no signs of slowing. Around £140billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 within minutes while trading was temporarily halted on the New York Stock Exchange. Two more patients have died from the killer coronavirus in the UK after the number of cases spiked to 321 today, officials have confirmed. MailOnline understands the latest victim was a man in his 70s who was 'very unwell' and had a number of long-term health conditions'. He passed away at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, south London. His death came after Health Secretary Matt Hancock this afternoon announced the fourth death a woman in her 70s at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital who also had several other underlying conditions. She caught the illness in the UK. It comes after a man in his 60s, in Manchester, became the third person to die yesterday. Last week a woman in her 70s in Reading and a man in his 80s in Milton Keynes also succumbed to the life-threatening infection. Health chiefs today confirmed 48 more patients, including five in Scotland and two in Wales, had been diagnosed with the illness which has left millions living in fear. Britain's total infection toll now sits at 321, with the number having risen almost eight-fold in the space of a week. Outbreaks in Italy, France, Germany and Spain have also dramatically increased in size. Fears thousands may unknowingly be infected were today raised after a patient already in hospital tested positive for the killer virus despite having no known risk factors or travel history. In hope of delaying an inevitable crisis, Boris Johnson today called an emergency meeting to discuss how Britain can slow the outbreak, but the Prime Minister did not order any stricter rules be put in place to stop the virus. Stepping up the Government's response could see the roll-out of drastic public health measures including shutting schools, banning large public events, encouraging people to work from home and cancelling thousands of non-urgent NHS operations. Despite the ever-growing threat of a crisis on British soil, thousands of passengers arriving from northern Italy the centre of Europe's outbreak were today let through UK airports without any health checks. World financial markets have crashed because of the crisis, which shows no signs of slowing. Around £140billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 within minutes while trading was temporarily halted on the New York Stock Exchange. In a statement about the death, Daniel Elkeles, chief executive, for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said: 'We can confirm that sadly, a patient in their seventies who was very unwell with a number of significant and long term health conditions has passed away at St Helier Hospital. They had tested positive for COVID-19. Our thoughts and condolences remain with the patient’s family and loved ones at this difficult time.'
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust which ran the hospital where the fourth patient died said: 'The Trust can confirm that a patient in their 70s being treated for underlying health conditions has died. The patient had tested positive for Covid-19. The family has been informed and our condolences and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.'
Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, added: 'I am very sorry to report that a fourth patient in England who tested positive for COVID-19 has sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their privacy is respected. The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, was in their seventies and had underlying health conditions. It appears the virus was acquired in the UK and full contact tracing has begun.'
Speaking in the House of Commons about the escalating crisis, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government is 'scaling up' the number of intensive care beds with ventilators it has available. He added that officials had no plans to postpone mass gatherings and that they were not rushing into the next phase of their coronavirus action plan. There had been speculation the Cobra meeting today would be used to push on from the first phase of the four-point plan 'contain' to the second 'delay' which would raise the prospect of school closures and people being urged to work from home. But Mr Hancock told Parliament: 'The transition to the delay phase is exactly that, it’s a transition. We won’t give up hope of containing this disease whilst we can still take containment actions, and many of the actions needed to contain it are also very effective for delaying.'
Statistics published today revealed that there are now 280 past and present patients in England, 23 in Scotland, 11 in Northern Ireland and six in Wales. Devon is the county that has been hardest hit by the infection with at least 18 patients known to have been struck down. Around three per cent of diagnosed patients die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But leading scientists have warned the figure is likely to be much lower thousands of cases may not have been diagnosed because symptoms were so mild. The third death in the UK was announced yesterday, Sunday, in a man in his 60s who had 'significant underlying health conditions'. He had recently returned from a trip to Italy and was being treated at North Manchester General Hospital's specialist regional unit for infectious diseases. Another two deaths include a patient in his 80s at Milton Keynes University Hospital who had other health conditions. The first death, a woman in her 70s who also had long-term health troubles, was recorded on Thursday at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Another Brit has died abroad a passenger on the doomed Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off the coast of Japan. There are fears the coronavirus is now spreading in the UK among people who don't even have any links to other countries where there are bigger outbreaks. A patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton was diagnosed with the virus while they were an inpatient in the hospital because of another health problem. Their diagnosis was only spotted on a random screening and hospital staff reportedly cannot work out how the patient caught the infection. A leaked message sent to staff from the hospital trust's medical director, Dr George Findlay, said: 'The patient had no risk factors. They did not come into the hospital with suspected coronavirus but were identified following the recent measures introduced by Public Health England (PHE) which require trusts to screen certain patient groups admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness.'
In a statement, the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust said: 'The patient is being cared for on an isolation ward at the hospital where they continue to be monitored and treated. Staff who have come into contact with the patient have been informed and if advised by PHE are self-isolating. The Trust is following Public Health England and NHS guidance in respect of the virus and all services are operating normally. All other patients and staff should continue to attend appointments normally and come into work unless advised not to.'
Health chiefs faced serious questions last night as it emerged travellers from Italy, which is at the centre of Europe's outbreak with more than 7,000 cases, said they had been able to get off flights to the UK without seeing any officials. A large part of Italy went into lockdown over the weekend, with people living in Milan, Venice and the Lombardy region, which contains Lake Como and Alpine skiing destinations, put under quarantine. Italians who try to leave the disease-hit area face jail time but tourists will be allowed to leave. Transport systems are shutting down in the country's north and schools, museums and sports events across the country are closed. Italy has by far the most cases outside of Asia at least 7,345 confirmed, compared to France's 1,209 with only South Korea (7,478) and Iran (7,161) confirming similar numbers. It has become one of the high-risk destinations designated by the UK Government and NHS, and the Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to Milan, Bergamo, the Lombardy region, and parts of the Veneto, Marche, Piemonte and Emilia Romagna regions in the north. There appear to be no travel restrictions or surveillance on people returning from these areas, however, only guidance for them to seek medical advice by themselves. Public Health England claimed it had been carrying out 'enhanced monitoring' of all flights from northern Italy since last Wednesday but had not extended the measure to flights from southern Italy. Several travellers from Italy including locked-down Milan said they had passed through UK airports without seeing any officials. Federico Gatti, of the UK bureau of Italian broadcaster Mediaset, tweeted yesterday: ‘Just landed in London from Milan. Zero checks. No info. How can it be possible?’
Professor Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist based at the University of Aberdeen, said he was 'surprised' that no checks had been done. Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said it 'absolutely makes sense for these measures to be implemented'. Flights from countries including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia are subject to so-called enhanced monitoring measures. This means that when a passenger feels unwell they should alert the aircrew. The pilot will then have to ask the destination airport for permission before anyone can disembark. Leaflets are then handed out to all passengers about calling NHS 111 and self-isolating if they experience a cough, sore throat or temperature. As the UK's coronavirus cases tally continues to rise, Prime Minister Boris Johnson held an emergency meeting of the government's Cobra committee this morning to discuss next steps with senior ministers and advisers. The committee decided not to officially move from the 'contain' to the 'delay' phase of the Government's four-point battle plan to deal with coronavirus. Last week, Professor Whitty said UK efforts are already partly in the 'delay' phase which includes public health campaigns to warn people about the virus but it has not been officially declared. A change would raise the prospect of schools closing, large events like London Marathon being cancelled and relaxed sick pay rules so that people can receive statutory pay from their first day of illness. The World Health Organization's Dr David Nabarro said on BBC Radio 4 this morning: 'It is not just the big events. I want to stress it is also gatherings in community halls, in religious spaces and services, and also in pubs and the like.'
Speaking on the Government's decision not to make the move today, Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: 'We remain in the contain phase but it is now accepted that this virus is going to spread in a significant way.'
Asked whether the government was being slow to act, the spokesman said the response was based on scientific advice. 'From the beginning of the outbreak we have based all of our decisions on the best available scientific advice and we will continue to do so,' he said.
The UK is reportedly preparing for as many as 100,000 deaths due to the virus. This figure was accepted by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who stressed the government is looking at the 'scientific worst-case scenario'. Announcing the death of a third person in the UK due to coronavirus, the UK's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, wrote: 'I am very sorry to report that a third patient in England who tested positive for COVID-19 has sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their privacy is respected. The patient, who was being treated at the North Manchester General Hospital, was over 60 years old and had significant underlying health conditions. They had recently travelled from an affected area. Contact tracing is already underway.'
University Hospital Southampton said last night that the 'small number' of patients and staff which came into contact with the coronavirus sufferer that worked at the hospital have been informed and 'will be appropriately isolated'. 'Any patient affected by the temporary closure will be contacted directly,' they said in a statement. 'The Trust is following Public Health England and NHS guidance in respect of the virus and all other services are operating normally.'
They said patients and staff should continue to attend appointments normally and come into work unless they have been advised not to do so. Easyjet has grounded all its flights to northern Italy on Monday and said it will review those scheduled until April 3. Ryanair and British Airways said that they do not have any plans to review flights. Announcing the cancellation of all flights to northern Italy on Monday and a review of its schedule until April, EasyJet said: 'We expect to continue to reduce the number of flights in and out of Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Venice and Verona airports in the period up to April 3 and will provide a further update on our schedule in due course.'
Passengers affected by the change will receive an email or text message and will be offered either a full refund or the option of changing their flights. British Airways and Ryanair have both confirmed that they have no plans to ground flights. Oxford University also revealed that a student had been diagnosed on its website, but stated that the risk is 'very low and that university and college activities can continue as normal'. The university did not reveal what country the student had travelled from but said its immediate concerns were for the affected student and their family, along with the health and well-being of university staff, students and visitors. 'It has been established that the affected student did not attend any university or college events after they felt ill, when they subsequently self-isolated,' they said.
'As a result, PHE has advised that the risk to other students and staff is very low and that university and college activities can continue as normal. They have also advised that the university and colleges do not need to take any additional public health actions in the light of this specific case. 'We have worked with PHE to make sure that anyone who was in contact with the student after they fell ill has been notified and that they are able to access support and information as needed. PHE does not consider individuals infectious until they develop symptoms.'
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT CORONAVIRUS?
Someone who is infected with the coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say. Nearly 4,000 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 110,000 have been infected. Here's what we know so far:
What is the coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body's normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word 'corona', which means a crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown. The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It has been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The name stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2. Experts say the bug, which has killed around one in 50 patients since the outbreak began in December, is a 'sister' of the SARS illness which hit China in 2002, so has been named after it. The disease that the virus causes has been named COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease in 2019. Dr Helena Maier, from The Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals. Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses). Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.'
The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started publicly reporting infections on December 31. By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge. The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 7,000. Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 possibly 9,700 were infected in Wuhan alone. By that point, 26 people had died. By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone. By January 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000. By February 5, there were more than 24,000 cases and 492 deaths. By February 11, this had risen to more than 43,000 cases and 1,000 deaths. A change in the way cases are confirmed on February 13 doctors decided to start using lung scans as a formal diagnosis, as well as laboratory tests caused a spike in the number of cases, to more than 60,000 and to 1,369 deaths. By February 25, around 80,000 people had been infected and some 2,700 had died. February 25 was the first day in the outbreak when fewer cases were diagnosed within China than in the rest of the world.
Where does the virus come from?
According to scientists, the virus almost certainly came from bats. Coronaviruses, in general, tend to originate in animals the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively. The first cases of COVID-19 came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in Wuhan, which has since been closed down for investigation. Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat. A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 2020 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China are 96 per cent identical to a coronavirus they found in bats. However, there were not many bats at the market so scientists say it was likely there was an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human. It has not yet been confirmed what type of animal this was. Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: 'The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China. We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been.'
So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?
Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly. It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans' lungs. It is less deadly than SARS, however, which killed around one in 10 people, compared to approximately one in 50 for COVID-19. Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they've never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold. Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them. Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.'
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die. 'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in. Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.'
How does the virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms. It is believed to travel in the saliva and even though the water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky. Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person. There is now evidence that it can spread third hand to someone from a person who caught it from another person.
What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the COVID-19 virus it may take between two and 14 days, or even longer, for them to show any symptoms but they may still be contagious during this time. If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients will recover from these without any issues, and many will need no medical help at all. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Figures are showing that young children do not seem to be particularly badly affected by the virus, which they say is peculiar considering their susceptibility to flu, but it is not clear why.
What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?
Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world. This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause. Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much changing is known as mutating much during the early stages of its spread. However, the director-general of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people. This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it. More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.
How dangerous is the virus?
The virus has a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people. Experts have been conflicted since the beginning of the outbreak about whether the true number of people who are infected is significantly higher than the official numbers of recorded cases. Some people are expected to have such mild symptoms that they never even realise they are ill unless they're tested, so only the more serious cases get discovered, making the death toll seem higher than it really is. However, an investigation into government surveillance in China said it had found no reason to believe this was true. Dr Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization official who went on a mission to China, said there was no evidence that figures were only showing the tip of the iceberg, and said recording appeared to be accurate, Stat News reported.
Can the virus be cured?
The COVID-19 virus cannot be cured and it is proving difficult to contain. Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can work, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money. No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above. The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology. Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them from infecting other people. People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public. And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature). However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.
Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?
The outbreak is an epidemic, which is when a disease takes hold of one community such as a country or region. Although it has spread to dozens of countries, the outbreak is not yet classed as a pandemic, which is defined by the World Health Organization as the 'worldwide spread of a new disease'. The head of WHO's global infectious hazard preparedness, Dr Sylvie Briand, said: 'Currently we are not in a pandemic. We are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci, and we try to extinguish the transmission in each of these foci,' the Guardian reported.
She said that most cases outside of Hubei had been 'spillover' from the epicentre, so the disease wasn't actually spreading actively around the world.
CORONAVIRUS CAUSES CHAOS ON MARKETS AS FTSE BOMBS BY £140BN IN MINUTES AND TRADES ARE HALTED ON NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
Trading was halted on the New York Stock Exchange for 15 minutes after the S&P 500 index fell 7 per cent while Britain suffered a new 'Black Monday' today after the FTSE 100 bombed by £140billion in minutes as world markets collectively crashed because of coronavirus. The biggest fall in the price of oil since the 1991 Gulf War because of a trade war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has further spooked traders with a global recession now on the cards. The FTSE 100 was predicted to open at least 300 points down this morning but it fell 550 points to 5,900, the lowest level for four years, as coronavirus cases raced towards 110,000 worldwide. It had recovered slightly by lunchtime today, but was still 420 points down at 6,000 at 1 pm, still below the last major low of 6,021 in 2016. Among the biggest victims were oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell, whose stocks tumbled more than 20 per cent, while travel firm Tui was down more than 14 per cent. The top performer was Tesco, down just 1 per cent, as Britons ramped up stockpiling amid fears the UK could soon be placed in an Italian-style lockdown. In the US, The Dow opened on a loss of more than 1700 points on Monday, a decrease of more than seven per cent since Friday's close, after a chaotic weekend which saw oil prices tumble and which all but decimated the futures market. Circuit breakers - rarely triggered but exist to stop prices tumbling further when a downward spiral shows no sign of slowing - went into effect on Sunday night to stop some futures trading at astronomically low prices. They have triggered again on Monday morning after a dramatic start to the day's trading to stop the markets going into free-fall. This morning's opening marked the worst decrease on Wall Street for more than 10 years. The FTSE 100 plunged 550 points to a three-year low of 5,900 this morning and the 8.5 per cent fall was the worst seen in a day since the worldwide crash in 2008, and the fourth-worst fall in UK market history.
