Foreign Office tells British to leave Wuhan
Chinese president admits virus is spreading faster than ever as Wuhan builds a second isolation hospital
BRITISH citizens were last night advised to leave Hubei Province after the chief medical officer issued new advice recommending vulnerable people should immediately evacuate the area at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Chinese city of Wuhan has effectively been sealed off as authorities struggle to contain the spread of the deadly virus, leaving potentially hundreds of British residents at risk.
The Foreign Office said last night: “The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to Hubei Province. If you are in this area and able to leave, you should do so. This is due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak.” However, any attempts to evacuate British citizens are likely to be hampered by the Chinese authorities’ restrictions on movements in and out of Wuhan.
There are no plans for the UK to pull its diplomats out of the region, despite the growing death toll and a decision by the US to fly home consular staff and their families.
As many as 500 French citizens in the city, meanwhile, will be offered a coach service by the consulate general of France in Wuhan to take them to safety.
The FCO is now facing a growing backlash over its response to the crisis, with several British professionals based in Wuhan claiming they had been offered no help.
Simon Gibbons, a 36-year-old from London who works in the automotive industry in Wuhan, told The Sunday
Telegraph: “We haven’t had any official notice from the British government – the French and American Embassies seem to be doing everything they can … to provide their citizens with every opportunity to leave the city. Yet again we see that the approach favoured by the FCO is sitting back and watching the situation develop before they put any plans in place – when 300 Brits in Wuhan are scared to leave the house.”
Thirty-one people have been tested for the virus in the UK, including 17 in the space of 24 hours, but no cases have yet been identified.
The death toll in China is believed to be at least 41, while around 1,400 further people are receiving treatment.
A DOCTOR treating patients infected with the deadly coronavirus became the first medical worker to die from the disease yesterday as China intensified efforts to stop its spread.
Work began on a second new hospital to be built within 14 days in Wuhan, the seat of the outbreak, as 1,400 cases were confirmed and the death toll rose to 41.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, said the spread of the virus appeared to be accelerating, as authorities raced to scale up their emergency measures.
Most of China’s provinces and cities have activated their highest public alert, which would allow placing people in quarantine, state media reported. Travel restrictions were extended to 56million people yesterday.
Wuhan, where the disease is thought to have broken out at a wholesale meat market, and its surrounding area are home to about 800 cases alone – though disease modelling experts estimate thousands more could be affected.
Cases have spread as far away as the US, while Malaysia discovered its first three cases this weekend, Australia its first four and Nepal its first. Japan added a second person to its list of confirmed infections.
In the UK, 31 people have been tested for the virus, including 17 in the space of 24 hours, it emerged yesterday. The Department of Health said 14 people had been given the all-clear by Friday afternoon.
Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said there was a “fair chance” cases would emerge in Britain.
Liang Wudong, 62, the doctor who died yesterday morning, had come out of retirement to assist in the emergency response.
Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the Nottingham university, said healthcare workers were particularly at risk as they were dealing with the most severely affected.
Local health officials also identified the youngest patient to date – a twoyear-old girl named Zhong. She was put into isolation at hospital.
Local Chinese authorities have cancelled several public Chinese New Year events and shut popular tourist sites.
In Hebei province, non-essential vehicles were this morning due to be banned in Wuhan.
Starbucks joined McDonald’s in shutting all its stores in the city and suspended delivery for a week.
Public areas, including elevators and railway stations, were being disinfected regularly in cities across the country of 1.4billion people. Those venturing outdoors donned face masks.
Chinese authorities said they would build a 1,300-bed hospital within two weeks, dedicated to treating coronavirus patients in Wuhan, where workers had already started work on a 1,000bed hospital, due for completion by next Monday.
Hong Kong yesterday declared a state of emergency and announced plans to limit rail and air links to mainland China. Schools there remain closed until Feb 17, and universities were asked to extend leave for students beyond the Chinese New Year break.
Five cases were confirmed in Hong Kong, with another 120 people suspected of having the disease receiving medical care.
Experts believe that controlling the outbreak may be even more challenging than initially thought. Researchers published a study in The Lancet, suggesting people could be spreading the virus without even knowing they have been infected.
Prof Kwok-Yung Yuen, from the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, who led the research, said: “Asymptomatic infection appears possible.” That means it would be harder for doctors and nurses to detect potentially affected individuals.
Prof Ball said: “With severe acute respiratory syndrome [Sars], people were presenting with a high fever, so it was quite easy to detect and isolate people when they were most at risk to others. If we haven’t got those markers to identify people infected with the novel coronavirus, it makes it much more challenging to control.”
‘If we haven’t got markers to identify the infected, it makes it challenging to control’