Evacuated Britons arrive back in UK for two-week quarantine

Wirral hospital to host nationals from Wuhan as health officials try to trace those in contact with two diagnosed with coronavirus in UK

Britons evacuated from coronavirus-hit Wuhan have arrived at a hospital where they will spend the next 14 days in quarantine.

The convoy of coaches arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral shortly after 7.15pm yesterday.

It comes as health officials are urgently trying to chase those who came into contact with two people diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK.

The evacuation flight from the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak carrying 83 Britons and 27 non-UK nationals landed at the Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire at around 1.30pm yesterday.

The UK passengers were taken to the Merseyside hospital to be housed in an NHS staff accommodation block with access to the internet.

They are being given fully-furnished rooms, food, laundry facilities and have access to a team of medical staff who will closely monitor their condition.

Kitchens are available for those who wish to self-cater, and families are being kept together, with games consoles, toys and cots provided.

Driver Liam Musgrove passed the convoy as it travelled up the M6 motorway.

“The experience was harrowing and quite surreal,” the 28-year-old told the PA news agency.

“Seeing such an organised operation in place it really puts into perspective what a deadly virus this could be.”

The evacuation flight came as the first two cases in the UK were confirmed by Public Health England (PHE).

PHE confirmed the two people taken ill – who are members of the same family – had been staying in at the Staycity apartment hotel in York when they became unwell.

The firm has said the apartment involved has been thoroughly disinfected and PHE has been providing support.

The two people diagnosed with the virus are being treated by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in its specialist Airborne High Consequences Infectious Disease Centre (HCID).

Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at PHE, said: “Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed cases.”

Prof Peacock previously said while staff are working to trace people who have been in contact with the pair, they do not at present have “any idea” of how high that number might be.

“Seeing such an organised operation in place it really puts into perspective what a deadly virus this could be. LIAM MUSGROVE

Picture: PA.