AIRLIFT TO SAVE BRITONS TRAPPED BY VIRUS

As infection accelerates, Raab draws up China evacuation plan

MINISTERS are drawing up plans for the emergency evacuation of more than 200 Britons trapped at the centre of the deadly coronavirus epidemic in China.

The Government, which initially said it would leave British citizens in Wuhan to avoid spreading the virus to the UK, performed a dramatic U-turn yesterday after concluding that keeping expats there could be a ‘death sentence’.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered officials to examine the logistics for an airlift, although a

source said ‘a number of things need to fall into place on the Chinese side before we can make any firm promises’.

Demand for action from expats trapped in Wuhan grew louder when China’s President Xi Jinping yesterday admitted that his country was facing a ‘grave situation’.

The official death toll last night stood at 42, with almost 1,400 confirmed infections. Video clips on social media laid bare the meltdown at Chinese hospitals struggling to cope. One nurse said 90,000 people had been infected in Wuhan, but the claim was unverified.

As more than 56 million people in 18 Chinese cities were on lock down, British ex pats demanded the Government ‘get us out of here’. One who was trapped in Wuhan told fellow Britons: ‘ London thinks you’re all dead!’

The Foreign Office reversal followed the launch of similar evacuation plans by the US and French governments. America may send a charter flight for its citizens as early as today. The news came as:

• The UK began a race against time to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, ordered by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, as experts warned the infection was likely to reach the UK within days;

• Public Health England developed a new test which diagnoses an infection in under 24 hours – more than 30 people have so far been tested in the UK, but none proved positive;

• Health officials stepped up efforts to track down an estimated 2,000 people who have arrived in the UK from Wuhan in the past fortnight;

• A 62-year-old doctor treating patients in Wuhan was confirmed as being among the latest fatalities, while a twoyear- o l d gi r l became t he youngest to be infected.

Disturbing videos on social media, including chaotic scenes in Wuhan’s overwhelmed hospitals, led to the conclusion in Whitehall emergency meetings that the local medical system was in ‘complete meltdown’.

A senior Government source said: ‘It is a fast-moving situation and it requires some tough calls to be made.

‘ Originally, the advice we received was t hat Britons should stay in China, rather than risk spreading the virus to the UK. But the situation is now so bad locally, and the medical system so overstretched, that it could prove to be a death sentence. We need to get people out.

‘So we are looking at removing Britons. But we do not yet know how the logistics will work. They are challenging.’

Despite the crisis, Chinese New Year celebrations yesterday got under way in London and Manchester. The biggest event outside Asia will take place today when thousands of people gather in the capital for a huge parade from Trafalgar Square to Chinatown.