Flights delay for Britons fleeing China virus
A PLANNED flight to bring British nationals back to the UK from coronavirus-hit Wuhan will not take place today.
The Government had anticipated flying around 200 UK citizens out of the country but it is understood Chinese officials have not yet granted permission for the chartered flight to depart.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are doing everything we can to get British people in Wuhan safely back to the UK. A number of countries’ flights have been unable to take off as planned. We continue working urgently to organise a flight to the UK as soon as possible.”
When they do return they face being put in quarantine for 14 days. Officials are looking at taking passengers to a military base once they arrive home, the Department of Health said.
The cancelled flight was due to leave with passengers from Wuhan city and Hubei province.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee. Downing Street also said the Britons returning from Wuhan had agreed to be placed in “assisted isolation”.
A source said: “On arrival passengers will be safely isolated for two weeks with all necessary medical attention.”
Number 10 refused to confirm where the Britons would be taken following the civilian charter flight from the region.
The latest move followed Britons being told they must “selfisolate” – while also making their own way home from the airport. Previous advice from Public Health England (PHE) was for those returning to stay at home for 14 days. But Britons due to
board the flight back from Wuhan said they had been told by authorities to make their own way through the city to Wuhan airport, and once they land on British soil they are expected to make their own way home, potentially coming into contact with hundreds of people on the way.
Experts in China have said there is evidence that people could transmit the virus without showing any symptoms, although UK experts think the risk is low.
Kharn Lambert, whose grandmother Veronica Theobald, 81, from Lancaster, was booked on a flight leaving Wuhan today, said: “We are not sure what time the flight will leave yet.
“She got a seat almost straight away.”
The Foreign Office updated its advice on Tuesday to warn against all but essential travel to mainland China, saying it may become more difficult for British nationals in other provinces to leave.
The Department of Health and Social Care said 130 people in the UK had been given the all-clear for the virus.
Meanwhile, a Yorkshire couple on The Queen Mary 2 cruise liner told how their itinerary was changed to avoid Hong Kong.
Paul McGinley, 52, of Wakefield, and his wife Claire, 49, a civil servant, were due to arrive in Hong Kong on February 18-19 as part of a 99-day world tour, but instead will stay longer in Singapore.
Mr McGinley, a former Leeds Council employee, said: “Although we are disappointed to be missing out on time in Hong Kong we appreciate Cunard’s priority is the safety of everyone on board.”
Speaking from the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, he said: “People on board are being philosophical about the decision.”
THE “WHOLE world needs to be on alert” over the new coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WH0) said as it reconsiders whether it should declare a global health emergency.
It comes as the death toll in China passed 130 and cases of human-to-human transmission were confirmed in at least three other countries.
Its emergency committee, which said last week it was “too early” to pronounce a global health emergency, will meet for a second time today.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said the decision to reconvene was due to the increasing number of cases and evidence of person-to-person transmission of the virus.
He told a press conference in Geneva that the Chinese government deserves “huge credit” for its response and transparency regarding the “extraordinary challenge”.
He said: “The whole world needs to be on alert now, the whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come, either from the original epicentre or from other epicentres that become established.”
A benefit of the emergency committee meeting could be to align the various measures being taken by countries on borders and travel.
Dr Ryan said multiple countries implementing measures at different times based on their individual risk assessments was a “potential recipe for disaster, at least politically, economically and socially”.
The WHO said person-to-person transmission had been confirmed in three countries outside China – Japan, Vietnam and Germany.
Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the conference: “The continued increase in cases and the evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China are, of course, most deeply concerning.
“Although the numbers outside China are relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak.”
He added that China “deserves
The whole world needs to take action and be ready.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
our gratitude and respect” for its “extraordinary” efforts to prevent the spread of cases outside the country. He continued: “But make no mistake, I am not saying although it is 68 now, it may not be bigger. It may be bigger and we may even face serious problems.
“That’s why, when we see the human-to-human transmission in three countries, we are reconvening the emergency committee to understand what that means.”
Countries have started to evacuate their citizens from Wuchan, the Chinese city hardest-hit by coronavirus, which has now infected more people in China than SARS.
The number of confirmed cases jumped to 5,974, surpassing the 5,327 in mainland China during the SARS outbreak in 20022003. The death toll rose to 132, which is still lower than the 348 people who were killed in China by SARS. Scientists say there are still many critical questions to be answered about the new virus, including just how transmissible and severe it is.
A Japanese flight that brought back evacuees from the city of Wuhan included four passengers with coughs and fevers. Two were diagnosed with pneumonia. The three men and one woman were taken to a Tokyo hospital in separate ambulances for treatment and further medical checks.