The first coronavirus case in Richmond has been confirmed, but leader of the council, Gareth Roberts, has assured residents that schools are not about to close just yet.

Up until today, Richmond had been one of just two boroughs in South West London unaffected by the outbreak.

But an updated list of boroughs where cases of coronavirus had been confirmed today listed Richmond as having one confirmed case, correct as of 9am March 10 2020.

At the moment it is unclear where exactly in the borough the virus was detected.

In a video posted on Richmond Council’s Twitter page Cllr Roberts rubbished rumours that the council were preparing to close schools.

He said: “There are a lot of concerns and a lot of rumours going around that we are about to close schools and possibly our residential care homes will be put into quarantine and we’ll be closing our day centres. This is purely rumour. And is not true.

“At the moment we have received no guidance from Public Health England to close our schools. Similarly we have had no guidance whatsoever that we should either be looking to quarantine our residential care homes or that we should be closing our day centres.

“If the situation changes we will make sure that you are the first to know.”

He added: “As a council it is our responsibility to make sure you are kept as well informed as we possibly can. At the moment we are taking all the advice and guidance from the Department of Health and Public Health England regarding what steps we should be taking locally in order to mitigate the threat of the virus,” and advised residents to wash their hands regularly and ensure they cough and sneeze into a tissue, before throwing it away.