The email that alerted the UK’s top scientists to Covid: Jonathan Van-Tam warned of Wuhan outbreak of ‘viral pneumonia in China’ in January 2020

• Email concerned report of a ‘Outbreak of undiagnosed viral pneumonia in China’
• READ MORE:  JVT was urged to flee home by police during the Covid pandemic

The first email that alerted UK Government officials to the threat of new ‘undiagnosed pneumonia’ in China has been published by the Covid Inquiry.

It was sent by Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam to the Government’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty and Department of Health staff at 11.15am January 3, 2020.

Sir Jonathan, who later became a household name and known for his analogies, had forwarded the email from an international public health alerts system called ProMed.

The subject line read: ‘Outbreak of undiagnosed viral pneumonia in China’.

The email itself detailed that the pneumonia had been spotted in the province of Hubei, where the city of Wuhan is located. It also hinted that cases had been spotted in market linked to ‘wildlife sales’ which had now been closed.

The first email to Government a new ‘undiagnosed pneumonia ‘ in China, sent by Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, has been published by the Covid Inquiry

Sent on 11.15am January 3 2020, the email was a forward of a notice from an international public health alerts system concerning an ‘Outbreak of undiagnosed viral pneumonia in China’. Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam initials ‘JVT’ can be seen on the lower left

In his response Government’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty outlined the ‘triggers’ that would see officials take a ‘close interest’ in the new infection

Addressing his email directly to Sir Chris, Sir Jonathan wrote that Emma Reed, head of emergency response and health protection at the Department of Health, had received a note from Public Health England (PHE) just days prior about a mysterious new infection. 

He wrote: ‘I am not sure who else it has been sent to so and copying it here to officials.

‘In summary: On 31 December 2019, PHE identified ProMed reports of an outbreak of undiagnosed viral pneumonia in Wuhan City, People’s Republic of China (population 11.2m).’

Replying, Sir Chris wrote that there were three triggers that would trigger the UK Government to take a ‘close interest’ in the then unnamed virus. 

The first and ‘most concerning’ factor would be if healthcare workers started dying, while the second would be evidence of person-to-person spread, and the third would be signs of a wider geographical spread by animals.

READ MORE: Jonathan Van-Tam urged to flee home by police after his family received death threats during the pandemic, Covid Inquiry told 

Professor Sir Jonathan, England’s former deputy chief medical officer – who quit his role in March 2022 — became a household name during the Government’s response to the health emergency and is known for his calm demeanour and regular use of analogies

Sir Chris added: ‘Absent that, at present I don’t think we need to go further and leave it with PHE to alert us if the situation changes.’ 

In a sign of how quickly the situation escalated, it was only a matter of weeks from the email that the first cases of the virus were detected in the UK on January 29.

A day later, the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus a a global health emergency.

The email exchanges were published as part of the UK’s Covid inquiry.

Both Sir Chris and Sir Jonathan gave evidence at a hearing today.

The latter revealed how he was urged to flee his home by police after his family received death threats during the pandemic, the Covid inquiry heard.

Sir Jonathan — who quit his role in March 2022 — became famous during the Government’s Covid response for both his calm demeanour during televised appearances and regular use of analogies.

But JVT, as he is affectionately known, did suffer some negative consequences from being thrust into the public eye. 

He told the inquiry how he received violent messages as he sought to explain the science behind Government decision-making.

He told the probe: ‘I did not expect my family to be threatened with having their throats cut.

‘I did not expect the police to have to say: “Will you move out in the middle of the night? Will you move out for a few days while we look at this and potentially make some arrests?”‘

Sir Jonathan, who was knighted last year, said with his trademark humour that his family did not leave their home ‘because of the cat’, but added: ‘It was a very stressful time. And my family didn’t sign up for that.’ 

The Boston United fan was famed for his memorable metaphors in the regular Covid updates, such as comparing the virus to a ‘goalkeeper that can be beaten’ and the vaccine rollout to the ‘glide path to landing this plane’. 

But he did spark panic and worry across the UK in the early days of the Covid crisis, when admitting that the country may have to ‘live with’ the virus for years before a vaccine was found.

He also hit headlines in December 2020 when he warned that Brits may wear face masks for years to come — even after a successful Covid vaccine became available. 

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