‘Essential China travel only’ for Britons
BRITONS IN the coronavirus-hit Chinese province of Hubei are expected to be flown home as early as tomorrow, as Britons are warned against all except essential travel to the country.
The Foreign Office has yet to confirm details, but a teacher in Wuhan city said that UK citizens were being given details of flights.
Those stuck in the city of Wuhan and surrounding areas have been urged to contact the British
consulate before 11am today if they wish to leave.
The news came as the Foreign Office said only essential travel to mainland China should be considered because of the outbreaks of the virus.
The British embassy in Beijing has said transport to get UK citizens out “may happen quickly and with short notice”. A British teacher living in Wuhan, who asked not to be named, said she had been in contact with the British authorities who informed her that while she could return to the UK, her husband, who has a UK visa, would not be allowed to as he was a Chinese national.
As a result, she decided that she would remain in China with her husband.
She said: “It’s what we were expecting, to be honest, as we’d heard that it was like that for
the American flight out. We had hoped it would be different, but oh well. If the situation stays as it is, or improves, then we’re fine. We just hope it won’t get any more serious.”
She added that a number of other Britons she was in contact with had arranged to return home, with some scheduled on a flight at 7am on Thursday.
The news comes as almost 100 people in the UK have tested negative for coronavirus. The Department of Health and Social Care said 97 people have been given the all-clear for the virus, although scientists predict it may have entered the country.
Earlier, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the Government was “working on” how to bring people home from the Chinese city.
He said: “For anybody who is there, one of the issues we have, working with our partners internationally on this, is actually identifying how many British citizens there are in Wuhan.
“One of the things we’re asking people to do is to contact the consulate there to make them aware. People have started to do that.
“We are working on arrangements as well.”
Officials estimate up to 200 citizens there will want to return to the UK. Hubei province has been on lockdown for days as China seeks to contain the illness, as have other parts of China. Hong Kong also said yesterday it would “temporarily” close some of its borders with mainland China and stop issuing travel permits to mainland Chinese tourists.
More than 100 people have now died in the country, with confirmed infections surging to more than 4,500.
It comes as the UK expert developing a vaccine against coronavirus said it has a “very good chance” of being effective.
THE DEATH toll from the coronavirus has risen to
106, China’s National Health Commission has said.
Authorities reported 25 deaths yesterday, with all but one in Hubei province where the virus is believed to have originated.
The number of total cases has now reached more than 4,500.
China has locked down cities across the province, isolating some 50 million people in a sweeping anti-disease effort.
The US Consulate in Wuhan, where authorities cut off most access last Wednesday in an effort to contain the disease, was preparing to fly its diplomats and some other Americans out of the city. A number of other governments including Japan, France and Mongolia are also preparing evacuations.
China had expanded its already sweeping disease-control
efforts by extending the end of this week’s Lunar New Year holiday, the country’s busiest travel season, by three days to Sunday to keep the public at home and reduce the risk infection will spread.
US health officials expanded their recommendation for people to avoid non-essential travel to any part of China, rather than just Wuhan and other areas most affected by the outbreak.
Tests for students, including
English proficiency, which are needed to apply to foreign universities have also been cancelled. Public schools and universities have been ordered to postpone reopening following the Lunar New Year holiday.
China has confirmed more than 2,700 cases of the new virus, most in Wuhan, while more than 40 cases have been confirmed elsewhere in the world. Almost all involve Chinese tourists or people who visited Wuhan.
Panic and pollution drive the market for protective face masks, so business is booming in Asia, where fear of the virus from China is straining supplies and helping make mask-wearing the new normal.
Demand for face masks and hand sanitising liquid has soared, as both local residents and visitors from China stock up on such products as a precaution.