The first case of the coronavirus in Kingston has been confirmed today (March 3).

Travel Republic on London Road in Norbiton confirmed on Tuesday morning that one of its employees had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.

The company said that the store, which runs online travel bookings, would be closed until further notice for a deep clean.

A spokesperson for Travel Republic told the Press Association: "We can confirm that a member of staff based at our London Road offices in Norbiton received a positive test for the Covid-19 virus yesterday.

"They are now receiving medical attention.

"As a precaution, we have closed our offices today while a deep clean is undertaken and we receive further advice from the relevant authorities.

"All staff have been notified and encouraged to contact the NHS 111 if they are concerned or feel unwell.

"Our primary concern at this time is the health of our staff, and we're working with the authorities to ensure best practice guidelines are being followed."

Meanwhile, London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama has cancelled all of its scheduled events until March 11 due to a teacher having the virus.

A concert involving musicians from the school that was scheduled to take place in New Malden this weekend was subsequently cancelled.

A spokesperson for the Kingston Arts charity confirmed the news on Twitter:

"We regret that the concert by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, scheduled for this coming weekend in New Malden, is cancelled due to a teacher having coronavirus.

"We wish the teacher a quick recovery," they said.

Confirmation of the first case in Kingston comes a day after a teacher at the Latchmere School in town was tested for the virus after feeling unwell.

She is still believed to be awaiting the results of the test at present.

As of 1.44pm on Tuesday, Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told the Comet there were no confirmed cases at the hospital. 

There have so far been 51 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK according to the government as of 2pm on March 3.

While the coronavirus is a relatively well-known virus, the current global outbreak is of a novel (new) strain of the virus, officially called Covid-19.