Monitoring stepped up for passengers on China flights to UK

Public health teams will be on hand to check travellers who feel unwell

All direct flights from coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China to Heathrow will be subjected to enhanced monitoring, while the Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the Chinese city.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said precautionary measures are being put in place after cases of the virus spread to other parts of the world.

More than 440 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, and officials have said at least 17 people have died there, according to the Associated Press. There have been no reported cases in the UK.

In Wuhan authorities shut public transport down in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

There are three direct flights a week from Wuhan to Heathrow Airport, and under the new measures, planes will be taken to an isolated area of Terminal 4.

The captain of each flight will tell passengers during landing to let a flight

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We are now advising against all but essential travel to Wuhan. FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

attendant know if they feel unwell.

These details will then be passed on to public health teams at the airport who will then carry out further checks.

Meanwhile, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated its travel advice for China, with a spokesman saying: “In light of the latest medical information, including reports of some person-to-person transmission, and the Chinese authorities’ own advice, we are now advising against all but essential travel to Wuhan.

“We advise British nationals travelling to China to remain vigilant and check our travel advice on gov.uk.”

Public Health England upgraded the risk to the UK population from coronavirus from “very low” to “low”.

Symptoms can include fever, coughand breathing difficulties.

Picture: AP. Travellers wear face masks as they line up at a train station in Nantong, eastern China’s Jiangsu province. The number of cases of the virus has risen to 440 and the death toll to 17.