More Brits fly home and go into isolation
200-mile drive was ‘not risky’ Second virus evacuation flight lands from China
At airport in Kabul
On plane in Jordan
Evacuees in Indonesia
ELEVEN more Britons went into quarantine last night after returning from China in a second coronavirus rescue flight.
They join the 83 who flew in on Friday and are now being monitored for 14 days at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside.
Ministers believe around 30,000 British citizens remain in China.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We’ll do everything we can to ensure those that still want to leave have the opportunity to do so.”
Meanwhile, a 44-year-old man in the Philippines has become the first outside China to die from the virus.
The death toll has risen to 304 people with a total of 14,380 cases of infection. Most are inside China, but about 100 have been confirmed in at least 23 other countries.
Thai doctors said a Chinese woman with severe symptoms has recovered after treatment with anti-flu and Aids drugs. She was symptom-free 48 hours after being given Middle East coronavirus drug oseltamivir and Aids drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, said medics at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok.
A Chinese passenger with “coronavirus-like symptoms” on a flight into Ireland from Moscow was reportedly led off by medics in protective suits at Dublin Airport and taken to a nearby hospital isolation ward. Remaining passengers were held at the airport for an hour and told to avoid contact with others for 24 hours.
The Government has launched a public health campaign on how to slow the spread of the virus, including coughing and sneezing into a tissue then binning it, and washing hands with soap.
Anyone who has arrived in the UK from China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began, in the last 14 days should avoid others and alert NHS 111, the Department of Health said. Anyone who has come from elsewhere in China and gets a cough, fever or shortness of breath should self-isolate and call 111. Public Health England said it was making “good progress” tracing those who came into close contact with two guests at a York hotel who have coronavirus.
The pair, one of whom is a University of York student who was staying at the StayCity aparthotel with a relative, were the only two confirmed UK cases.
They are being treated at a specialist unit in Newcastle. The UK’s coronavus risk level was raised from low to moderate last week and the World Health Organisation declared an international public health emergency.
DOMINIC RAAB ON VIRUS EVACUATION
A DRIVER pictured in just a short-sleeved shirt as he delivered UK evacuees from China was told the threat to him was “almost non-existent”.
Peter Badger, 54, had a medic in a full hazmat suit sat behind him as he drove 200 miles from RAF Brize Norton, Oxon, to a Merseyside hospital.
Government officials had told coach drivers to stay two metres away from their passengers.
“It didn’t bother me,” said Peter, who works for Horseman coaches and received two weeks’ paid leave. “All the drivers said ‘yes’ straight away, no hesitation. Everybody wanted to do their duty.”
We’ll do everything to ensure Brits can leave China