Coronavirus UK: Final evacuation flight from Wuhan to England touches down in Oxfordshire

Jacob Jarvis9 February 2020

A flight carrying 200 passengers from the coronavirus epicentre in China has touched down in England.

The plane, which came from the Chinese city of Wuhan, landed shortly before 7.30am.

An evacuation flight out of the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will land in the UK on Sunday morning carrying more than 200 passengers.

The second and final flight to be chartered by the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) left Wuhan at 3.20am local time on Sunday.

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It was carrying a number of Brits and passengers of other nationalities.

The plane, with British Government staff and military medics on board, arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

An FCO spokesman previously said: "Our final flight from Wuhan took off at 3.20am (local time) with over 200 passengers on board, including our staff who have facilitated the flight and medics.

"Alongside British nationals, there are other nationalities on board."

The flight coming into land
PA

Passengers on the plane from Wuhan will be assessed and will continue to be monitored.

Anyone displaying symptoms would not have been permitted to board the plane.

Officials said any passengers developing symptoms on the flight were to be taken to a separate cabin on the plane. Anyone displaying symptoms on landing would be transferred to an NHS hospital.

Meanwhile, the death toll in China from the coronavirus has risen to 811, surpassing SARS fatalities in the 2002-2003 outbreak.

The plane landed shortly before 7.30am
Sky News

The number of new cases announced on Sunday, however, had decreased from the day before, raising hopes the spread of the disease was being restricted.

China's National Health Commission said total cases in the country from the virus had increased by 2,656 in the 24 hours to Sunday morning to reach 37,198, down from the 3,399 new cases announced a day earlier.

Outside of China there are 288 cases in 24 countries, with one death, according to the World Health Organisation.

Yesterday it emerged five Britons have tested positive for coronavirus in France.

The French health ministry said the four adults and a nine-year-old child were diagnosed after they came into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore.

The Department of Health and Social Care said 620 people in the UK had been tested for coronavirus as of 2pm on Friday.

There have been three cases confirmed.

It is understood the third caught the illness in Singapore. The infected patient is reported to be a middle-aged British man and was understood to be the first UK national to contract the disease.

He is thought to have been diagnosed in Brighton and was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London where there is an infectious diseases unit on Thursday afternoon.

Two other patients who had recently travelled from China are being treated at the Royal Victoria Infirmary infectious diseases centre in Newcastle.

One is a student at the University of York.

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