British nationals face two week ‘isolation’ from first Wuhan airlift
The first flight carrying British nationals out of the coronavirus-affected city of Wuhan will depart tomorrow morning UK time, Downing Street confirmed today.
Around 200 individuals will be airlifted out of the country with the UK government using a charter civilian aircraft and crew, following BA’s decision to suspend all flights in and out of the country.
They will be kept at an undisclosed location where they will be put into 14-day “assisted isolation with all necessary medical attention”, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said. He was unable to comment on whether children would be on the flight back to the UK, or if they may be separated from parents during the two-week quarantine.
The government is following medical advice from a number of bodies including Public Health England and the chief medical officer.
Only British passport holders who do not also hold Chinese nationality are being allowed to leave the country currently. British officials in Beijing are urging the Chinese government to let dependants leave too.
“Our priority is to keep British nationals and their family members together and we have urgently raised this with the Chinese authorities,” the Prime Minister’s press secretary said this afternoon.
Health secretary Matt Hancock chaired a Cobra meeting today, where he updated
The World Health Organisation’s emergency committee will meet on Thursday, the third time in a week, to evaluate whether the new coronavirus spreading from China constitutes an international emergency.
This afternoon cases have been confirmed in Finland and the United Arab Emirates. Australia has confirmed six cases.
Around 100 people have been tested in the UK, but all have come back negative so far.
There have been at least 5,974 confirmed cases of coronavirus in mainland China — including 132 deaths.
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