British father stranded in Wuhan with his Chinese wife and baby

Stranded in Wuhan: Dozens of Britons are left behind in coronavirus city after Foreign Office gave them less than TWO HOURS’ notice to get on evacuation flight that left China three quarters empty and carrying just 83 UK citizens

The flight was understood to be carrying 150 British passengers and 50 others, mainly from the EU
British passengers will be dropped off at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, at around 12.50pm
They are expected to be taken by bus to student accommodation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral
The plane will then continue on to Spain, where the other 50 passengers will disembark to be processed
The coronavirus death toll has now hit 213 and more than 9,600 people around the world have been infected
Nobody has been diagnosed in the UK yet – 161 people have been tested and come back negative
Did someone you know take or miss flight from Wuhan to the UK? Email [email protected]

Dozens of Britons are trapped in coronavirus-stricken Wuhan today after being given as little as seven minutes to pack up their lives and get to the airport for a rescue flight that ended up having hundreds of empty seats.

The Government chartered plane is hours from landing back in the UK where passengers face a two-week quarantine – but the Boeing 747 jet took off with just 83 of the 150 Britons with tickets on board – meaning a third of people with allocated seats never left the virus-hit city.

British academic Michael Pattison, who has lived in Wuhan for 15 years, revealed the shambolic arrangements for the rescue flight and told Sky News: ‘I only received the travel documents seven minutes before the deadline to get to the muster point (at the airport) with virtually no transport available in the city’.

Pictures on social media showed Briton Ben Kavanagh wearing before take-off – but the jet’s cabin with a 300-plus passenger capacity was practically empty.

Adam Bridgeman is also stranded with his Chinese wife and newborn baby after being given less than two hours notice. He had pledged to stay after he was told that seats on jumbo jet due into Brize Norton at 1pm were only for British citizens – meaning his spouse and child would have to stay behind.

But last night in a sudden U-turn he received a call at 11.15pm saying the entire family could fly back to the UK – but only had until 1am to get to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport for check-in despite a travel ban in the city.

Mr Bridgeman said it was impossible to pack up their flat in that time – but the Foreign Office called again saying the rescue flight was delayed and sent a taxi for them. But by the time the car turned up it was too late for the 3am check-in, leaving them stranded.

He told Good Morning Britain: ‘ We received call from the Foreign Office at around 11.15pm saying my wife and child would be allowed on plane but had to be at airport at 1am we couldn’t get ready in time we decided not to do that. Later at 1am they said we could get the plane if we made it at 3am.

‘We couldn’t get a taxi we phoned police to try and get a ride but nothing. The Foreign Office managed to arrange for a car to pick us up. But unfortunately by the time he arrived we only had about 15 minutes to get to the airport, so we thought “it’s too late”.’

Mr Bridgeman said the FCO had told him that his family might be able to leave the city on another flight. He added: ‘The Foreign Office said that they might be able to organise for us to board a different plane from, in their words, one of Britain’s EU partners.’

There were around 300 people from the UK in Wuhan – but only around half have expressed a wish to leave.

Adam Bridgeman is stuck in Wuhan after being given just a few hours to get to the airport after the Foreign Office changed their minds and offered him, his Chinese wife and baby a seat on a flight to Britain – but they and others failed to get there on time

Ben Kavanagh posted an eerie selfie of him on the largely empty rescue aircraft, captioned with a joke saying: ‘Group selfie of me and my friends’. Academic Michael Pattison revealed he was given just seven minutes to make the flight

The flight, took off with a delay at 9.30am local time and was over Russia at 7am UK time with the plane due to land at Brize Norton at 1pm UK time

Briton in Wuhan refuses to board flight to UK as daughter may be left behind

Chris Hill, 38, chose not to board the flight back to the UK after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) could not say if four-year-old Renee would be allowed on board because she is a Chinese national.

The flight is due to leave Wuhan city at 7am local time on Friday, 11pm on Thursday UK time.

The Chinese government does not recognise dual nationality, and it is thought that people with Chinese citizenship are unable to leave the affected area.

Chris Hill with his four-year-old daughter Renee Gao

Mr Hill lives in Wuhan with his wife Caitlyn Gao and their daughter, who are both Chinese nationals.

He told said: ‘When [the FCO] called me they said they would not be able to say if my family could go with me or not.

‘I said ‘Oh OK so you cannot confirm in any way that they could travel with me’, and they said ‘We’re trying our best but we can’t guarantee anything,’ so I said ‘No, I’m not going’.

‘The whole point of saying you can go to the airport and try is like going well, it may happen, it may not. So it means if you take your family to the airport, and then they turn around and say no, what would happen?

‘With the current situation and the way the FCO is handling the diplomatic side of things, I’m just losing faith.’

MailOnline has been contacted by others given similarly last minute instructions, with dozens of other Brits also likely to have been given two hours or less to get to the airport without any public transport running.

The Foreign Office has not said how many people have been left behind in Coronavirus hit China, where at least 213 have died and thousands have fallen ill. Last night they had expected 150 people from the UK to board the flight – but this morning said just 83 flew.

The Government chartered aircraft left China at 9.45am local time and is due to arrive at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, at around 1pm today, before the evacuees are taken north by bus to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside where they will spend the next fortnight in its former student halls.

Ben Kavanagh, who was one of the first to board the plane, compiled a video diary showing his journey to Wuhan Tianhe Airport, which started at the toll bridge preparing to leave the city, while masked Chinese authorities kept a close watch on proceedings.

The teacher gave a thumbs up to the camera as he got on the bus saying ‘let’s go home’, then adding ‘well England first…then home’. Video from the coach showed him sat next to other passengers wearing protective masks and goggles.

At the airport, weary-looking Brits sat in the terminal waiting for the plane back home, as officials diligently checked the papers of those getting ready to board.

A staff member then called out names for people to collect their tickets, but strikingly some people did not collect their tickets. Brits wrapped up warm in coats could then be seen presenting their passports ready to board the flight home.

Welshman Mr Graham also showed the buses ready to take him to the airport on Instagram and posted a video of the deserted terminal as he appeared to queue to go back to the UK, captioned with the words ‘He’s goin home…he’s goin home he’s goiiiin’.

The Wuhan exodus commenced as 213 people have now died in China after contracting the coronavirus and the number of global cases has soared to more than 9,600.

After landing on Friday morning, passengers will then be put onto buses which will take them on a three and a half hour drive to former student accommodation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, where they’ll be kept for two weeks.

The group will be housed in a seven-storey NHS staff block with a pool table, TVs and wi-fi, including access to outdoor areas. Anyone with suspicious symptoms will be taken to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospital. Passengers were asked to sign contracts agreeing to be quarantined as a condition of getting the flight.

They will be allowed to work during the quarantine but cannot see visitors. Food and drink will be ordered in. Two weeks is the maximum incubation period of the illness – the duration between someone becoming infected and showing symptoms.

Should anyone show signs of coronavirus, which include a cough, sore throat or temperature, they will be taken ten miles to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital’s infectious diseases unit.

Britons Patrick Graham (left) and Ben Kavanagh (right) waiting for repatriation flight out of Wuhan, China, this evening

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9GhJ6dSTnVo%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Irishman Mr Kavanagh, who was one of the first to board the plane, compiled a video diary showing his journey to Wuhan Tianhe Airport, which started at the toll bridge preparing to leave the city, while masked Chinese authorities kept a close watch on proceedings

Video from the coach showed Mr Kavanagh sat next to other passengers wearing protective masks and goggles

A staff member called out names for people to collect their tickets at the airport, but strikingly a number of people did not collect their tickets

Brits wrapped up warm in coats could then be seen presenting their passports ready to board the flight home

Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Hospital, sent a message to hospital staff on Thursday evening saying they will welcome ‘around 100 British citizens’ and before their arrival they will be ‘screened for symptoms’.

Korean citizens were also pictured queuing up at Wuhan Tianhe Airport ready to take a plane home on Thursday night, with authorities keeping a close watch in full yellow hazmat gear.

Specifics emerged amid backlash against the Government’s ‘shambolic’ handling of the crisis which reportedly left would-be passengers with just two hours to get to Wuhan’s airport.

One man in the country visiting his girlfriend said he wanted to fly home but couldn’t get to the airport in time – he added most Brits he spoke to had the same problem.

Around 50 non-British people, mainly EU citizens including 20 from Spain, were also on the flight back to England, possibly because Brits have dropped out, and will be taken on to Spain after the stop at Brize Norton.

It comes as Britain is on red alert for coronavirus after paramedics all over the country were seen treating suspected patients – as experts warn a confirmed case is imminent.

Medics head to toe in white protective overalls and gas masks were filmed marching a patient through student university accommodation in the capital last night.

And witnesses claim to have seen medics in full quarantine uniform loading a man into an ambulance and taking him to a hospital in York. He was whisked into isolation from a budget hotel in the city.

The situation has become so severe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an international public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, this evening.

Health experts made the announcement following a meeting of the WHO emergency committee in Geneva.

Shortly afterwards, the four chief medical officers of the UK said they had increased the risk level of coronavirus from low to moderate, but added that they ‘do not think the risk to individuals in the UK has changed’.

The UK Government yesterday scrambled to put a plan together after Beijing last night denied it permission to land a plane at Wuhan Tianhe Airport. No-one in Britain has been diagnosed yet – 161 people have tested negative.

Anthony May-Smith, who had had his bags packed for days, yesterday morning told Sky News he did not hear until 9pm that he had to be at the meeting point at 11pm.

‘There’s a complete transport ban in the city,’ he said. ‘I’ve said this to them every time I’ve spoken to them and asked them what they can do to help and, every time, always ‘make your own way there’.

Ben Kavanagh also posted a video showing a number of people waiting for a flight back the UK captioned with ‘Let’s get outta here’

Authorities wearing hazmat suits standby at Wuhan Airport as Korean citizens wait for their repatriation flight from Wuhan city

Koreans waiting for Korean Air their repatriation flight at Wuhan Airport, China, this evening. Just hours later Brits are expected to board a separate flight

Pictures of a deserted Wuhan airport this evening were put on Instagram by Welshman Patrick Graham. Brits are due to fly out from the airport at 11pm this evening (7am local time)

Welshman Patrick Graham also showed posted pictures of him appearing to queue up ready to come back to the UK with a comment saying: ‘He’s goin home…he’s goin home he’s goiiiin

Pictures posted on social media by Emily Xiao appear to show buses getting ready to take Brits to Wuhan Tianhe Airport ready for their flight

Details emerged yesterday about the journey of the British evacuees who will be flown home from Wuhan in China tomorrow morning – they will land in Brize Norton and then be taken by bus to an NHS facility in Wirral, Merseyside

The possible plane being used to transport Brits from Wuhan today. They will then go into quarantine for two weeks at a hospital in the Wirral

Pictured: Arrowe Park Hospital. It is understood that people returning will be taken to staff accommodation at the flagship hospital

A former student accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital. It is understood that this is where 150 people will be quarantined for two weeks

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a public health emergency over the global outbreak of the virus

An aerial photograph shows planes grounded at Wuhan Tianhe Airport, where the UK’s plane will collect its passengers

A family is pictured in an airport in Beijing wearing protective masks and plastic as they prepare to board a flight

Medical workers are pictured pulling someone suspected to have the coronavirus out of an apartment building in Wuhan today, January 30

A military quarantine (pictured, a quarantine exercise in 2014) is likely to await passengers flying back to the UK from China

People disembark a cargo plane sent to Wuhan by the US to pull its citizens out of the coronavirus-hit city

Hazmat-wearing workers are seen on a runway in Tokyo for the first flight to carry Japanese nationals out of the crisis-hit Wuhan

A Turkish Air Forces cargo plane is pictured on a runway in Ankara today, January 30 – it will be flown to Wuhan to fly Turkish citizens home

A plane is pictured on a runway in Beja, Portugal, as it is prepared for a flight to Wuhan at the weekend to evacuate European citizens from various countries

‘I know that there’s other people that are struggling to get there themselves. So far I’ve only head that one person can actually get to the airport and the rest are struggling.’

Mr May-Smith, who is in Wuhan visiting his girlfriend, said he was told he’d get ‘plenty of notice’ to make his way to the airport.

He added: ‘Everybody’s come up with the same outcome – nobody can physically get there. It’s literally impossible to get there.’

The US and Japan have already successfully flown hundreds of their own citizens home and numerous other countries, including France, Turkey, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand are finalising plans.

All British passengers will face medical screening before being cleared to fly back and anyone showing signs of infection will be turned away at the airport and left behind, a Government minister confirmed.

And people who are deemed healthy enough to make it on board will only be allowed 15kg of luggage and must leave any Chinese or part-Chinese relatives behind because Beijing officials are refusing to let them go.

This is how the evacuation is expected to go:

A total of 150 British passengers made it to a meeting point by 11pm local time, 3pm GMT, today and will be flown home as long as they pass medical screening. They will travel with around 50 Europeans
From the meeting point, they will be taken 1.8 miles (3km) to the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport by bus
At some point between arriving at 11pm and boarding the plane they will go through medical checks. If they show signs of infection they will be left behind in Wuhan
The plane, chartered from an unknown Spanish company, will be crewed by RAF personnel and have a team of three Army medical officers on board
It will fly back to England and is due to land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire tomorrow morning
There, it will drop off the 150 British passengers before taking off again to take the remaining 50 people to Spain
British evacuees are then likely to go through another set of medical checks before being put onto coaches to shuttle them to accommodation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, it is reported
They will spend the next two weeks at the NHS facility being cared for and regularly screened for signs of coronavirus infection, after which they will be allowed to go home

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement this afternoon: ‘We are pleased to have confirmation from the Chinese authorities that the evacuation flight from Wuhan airport to the UK can depart at 0500 local time on Friday 31 January.

‘The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority. Our Embassy in Beijing and consular teams remain in close contact with British nationals in the region to ensure they have the latest information they need.’

A Downing Street spokesperson added: ‘I can confirm passengers will include around 50 foreign – mainly EU – nationals.

‘Once the flight has landed in the UK to drop British nationals off – the flight will land in Brize Norton – British nationals will get off and the flight will continue on to Spain.’

The spokesman added: ‘The plane was chartered from a Spanish company so it made sense for us and the Spanish government to allow EU nationals to return via Spain.’

HOW IS THE EVACUATION EXPECTED TO HAPPEN?

A total of 150 British passengers made it to a meeting point by 11pm local time, 3pm GMT, today and will be flown home as long as they pass medical screening. They will travel with around 50 Europeans
From the meeting point, they will be taken 1.8 miles (3km) to the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport by bus
At some point between arriving at 11pm and boarding the plane they will go through medical checks. If they show signs of infection they will be left behind in Wuhan
The plane, chartered from an unknown Spanish company, will be crewed by RAF personnel and have a team of three Army medical officers on board
It will fly back to England and is due to land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at 8.45am UK time tomorrow morning
There, it will drop off the 150 British passengers before taking off again to take the remaining 50 people to Spain
British evacuees are then likely to go through another set of medical checks before being put onto coaches to shuttle them to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside
They will spend the next two weeks at the NHS facility being cared for and regularly screened for signs of coronavirus infection, after which they will be allowed to go home

The take-off announcement came at approximately 1pm London time today, which was 9pm in Wuhan.

Passengers were reportedly told they would have two hours to get to the airport in Wuhan, a city bigger than London and without public transport or taxis.

UK officials refused to help people get there and the city is all but deserted after public transport was shut down and roadblocks put in place.

One said it was ‘impossible’ to get to the airport and that he had given up on trying to get onto the plane and would stay in China instead.

Government sources have said they expect around 200 British people to be on the flight, but it’s not clear how many have abandoned their plans because they didn’t have enough time to get to the rendezvous.

Labour MP Chris Bryant, a former Foreign Office minister, earlier accused the government of having a ‘negligent’ approach.

‘The government does need to get its act together,’ he told MailOnline. ‘There are families worrying about people who are still stuck in China and wondering why other countries can manage to sort this out, but we can’t.’

The plane, believed to be a chartered aircraft supplied by an Asian airline, will be crewed by RAF personnel and have a team of three Army medical officers on board. It will fly back to England and is due to land at RAF Brize Norton at 8.45am UK time tomorrow morning.

Passengers are then likely to go through another set of medical checks before being put onto coaches to shuttle them to accommodation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, MailOnline understands.

The US

An evacuation flight bringing 195 Americans home from the Chinese city at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak landed last night at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California.

The plane chartered by the US government to fly diplomats and private citizens – 195 evacuees and six crewmembers – back from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport touched down at the air base just after 8am PST on Wednesday.

Officials in hazmat suits were seen approaching the plane on the tarmac before passengers – including a number of small children – began filing out and stepping into awaiting buses.

Passenger underwent four screenings over the course of the journey – two before departure in Wuhan and another two during a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska.

US state officials are reportedly set to schedule a second flight for February 3.

Japan

Japanese officials have also chartered flights from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to rescue 206 citizens stuck in the coronavirus-hit city.

The plane landed at Haneda Airport in Tokyo at around 9am local time yesterday after flying to Wuhan overnight.

Around four medical officials were also on board to monitor returning passengers. Three patients were confirmed to have the coronavirus.

Officials flew 210 more Japanese residents back this morning on a second government-chartered flight to the same airport. Ministers are reportedly considering a third evacuation attempt.

France/Germany/Rest of Europe

EU commissioner Janez Lenarcic has confirmed one plane has already been sent to Wuhan to transport around 250 French residents. It is thought it will return on Friday – it is not clear why there is such a delay. No other details have been given.

Mr Lenarcic added a second flight would leave later this week, seemingly confirming French health minister Agnes Buzyn’s claim it would leave either Friday or Saturday.

It is believed 100 European residents will be on board, from countries including Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Poland and Spain, the New York Times reports.

Germany has also planned its own separate rescue mission – but no details have been given.

Turkey is flying a cargo plane to Wuhan at some point today to evacuate 34 Turkish citizens stuck in the city, as well as a handful of nationals from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Albania.

Italy is reportedly arranging a flight today to evacuate around 50 citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan. No other details have been given.

Portuguese residents stuck in Wuhan have reportedly been promised a flight tomorrow, reports the Portugal Resident.

Australia/New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand are planning to evacuate its citizens from the epicentre of the deadly virus outbreak in China.

Australian officials have yet to confirm when the flight will leave – but evacuees will be quarantined on an island used to detain asylum seekers.

New Zealand this morning confirmed it will charter a 300-seat aircraft to evacuate nationals trapped in Wuhan – spare seats will be offered to other Pacific islanders and Australians.

WHO ELSE IS PLANNING ON EVACUATING RESIDENTS FROM WUHAN?

India has requested permission to operate two flights to remove nationals from China. A Boeing 747 jet is in Mumbai on standby. The Indian embassy in Beijing began sharing ‘evacuation consent’ forms with expats stuck in Wuhan last night.

Indonesia Jakarta said there are more than 230 Indonesians in China – roughly 100 in Wuhan and the rest in Hubei province. The foreign ministry said yesterday it has yet to decide on an evacuation plan.

Malaysia Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said this morning that Kuala Lumpur was keen to send a plane to Wuhan to evacuate some 78 Malaysians stranded in the city.

Philippines The foreign ministry said today it would evacuate citizens in Hubei on a chartered flight, and asked nationals in the area to contact the Shanghai consulate.

Sri Lanka Colombo said yesterday there were roughly 860 Sri Lankan students in China. The foreign ministry said it is awaiting a response from the Chinese authorities to operate a Sri Lankan airlines charter flight to Wuhan to evacuate some 32 Sri Lankan students and their relatives.

South Korea Seoul will send chartered planes to Wuhan this week, the foreign ministry said, to return hundreds of its citizens to South Korea on Thursday and Friday.

Thailand Thailand’s premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha said yesterday the country was waiting for authorisation from Chinese officials before evacuating people, but that aircraft and doctors were on standby.

Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has asked the government to take all measures needed to bring home 36 Algerians, most of them students, living in Wuhan, according to state agency APS.

Morocco About 100 people, mostly students in Wuhan, will be evacuated, according to local media.

They will spend the next two weeks at the NHS facility being cared for and regularly screened for signs of coronavirus infection, after which they will be allowed to go home

They won’t be allowed out in public for two weeks – this is likely because scientists have worked out the virus has an incubation period of around that long.

An incubation period is the time between someone becoming infected and starting to show symptoms. During this time someone could be contagious without knowing they’re sick, making them extra dangerous.

Details emerging about the flight have been hazy and largely unconfirmed by the Government.

Ben Pinkerton, a teacher from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, is stuck in Wuhan and earlier told MailOnline he was cooped up in his flat in the city waiting to arrange a way home on the evacuation flight.

He said that the Government had given him ‘very little practical advice’ and he wasn’t sure when he was supposed to be heading to the airport – or how. MailOnline has not been able to contact him since the Foreign Office confirmed a time.

‘We were told that an evacuation was happening Thursday morning, but we haven’t been given a time or anything,’ he said. ‘It’s quite nerve wracking, just sitting here waiting.

‘A vague time doesn’t help us. We have travel arrangements planned with the company we work with, but the driver needs rest and we can’t assure him of what time we get picked up. The whole arrangement seems like a shambles.’

Mr Pinkerton added that morale among British people in the city seemed high but that he figured their families at home would be worried.

He said: ‘I implore those at the top to think not only of us but also our families still at home. In the majority of cases I would wager they are more worried than we are and want nothing more than their relatives to return to safety.’

Adam Bridgeman, a British man who is trapped in Wuhan with his Chinese wife and their one-month-old son, said he did not know if authorities would let him bring their son to the UK.

He told BBC Radio 4: ‘We’ve been in contact with the Foreign Office and they have confirmed I would be able to board a flight out of Wuhan but they’ve told me categorically that my wife can’t go.’

He said his son might also be considered a Chinese citizen but he hadn’t been told for certain either way.

‘It’s a very tough decision because if I could take my son I would consider going to take him to safety,’ he added. ‘But if I can’t take my son or wife then I’ll definitely stay here.

‘The last time I contacted [the Foreign Office] they said we just don’t know, you sort of have to try your luck and take him and see if he can get on – see if they let him on.’

British PE teacher Kharn Lambert, who decided he wouldn’t come back on the flight, told Sky News yesterday: ‘This morning I was on the phone to the embassy and they’ve basically told us via a script they were given by the Foreign Office that the flight will be leaving tomorrow, they’re not sure what time.’

Mr Lambert said he decided to stay in Wuhan so he didn’t ‘put everybody’s health at risk’ but said his grandmother would have to fly home because she was frail.

British teacher Jeff Siddle was among those due to be evacuated from Wuhan with his nine-year-old daughter Jasmine.

But Chinese officials reportedly barred his wife Sindy, a Chinese citizen, from boarding the rescue flight.

Mr Siddle’s family flew to Hubei province to spend time with his partner’s relatives and celebrate the Chinese New Year before warnings were in place about the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

Mr Siddle said yesterday: ‘My wife’s a Chinese citizen, although she’s got a permanent residency visa for the UK as a spouse.

‘But what the Foreign Office is saying is they are going to be doing an airlift, possibly tomorrow, but it’s only [for] British citizens.

‘Chinese authorities are not allowing any Chinese residents to leave.

‘I was put in the position to make a decision to either leave my wife here in China, or the three of us stay here [in Wuhan].

‘We have to basically have a nine-year-old child separated from their mother. Who knows how long that is going to be for?’

Mr Siddle told the Guardian there were no health warnings in place when they flew out on January 15. ‘My head is spinning,’ he said. ‘It’s just horrendous.

‘This ordeal just turned into our worst nightmare. How can they put a family in this position? Having to leave Sindy in China would be the worst thing that anyone could be put through. How am I going to tell Jasmine that her mum has to stay behind?’

Mr Siddle said he and his daughter would have to make their own way to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, from where the US and Japan have flown residents out of the city from. But he added that he is a three-hour drive away from the airport and that all the roads are on lockdown.

Another expat stranded in the region, Malcolm Lanyon, said he has chosen to stay in the region because he doesn’t want to leave his Chinese wife behind.

People wanting to escape from Wuhan will have to make their way across a city which has been largely abandoned – shops, schools and businesses are closed, there is no public transport, roads are blocked and flights out of the city have been cancelled (Picture taken Wednesday January 29)

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted the news this morning that people flying home from Wuhan would be properly quarantined for two weeks

Short of getting on emergency flights arranged by their embassies, foreign nationals staying or living in Wuhan have almost no way of getting out of the locked-down Wuhan (pictured January 29)

A pilot wearing a protective suit parks a cargo plane at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on Tuesday

The evacuation flight is expected to be the first disease-related evacuation since the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2015 (Pictured, a patient is transferred to an ambulance on the runway at RAF Northolt five years ago)

WUHAN CORONAVIRUS: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

What is this virus?

The virus has been identified as a new type of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of pathogens, most of which cause mild lung infections such as the common cold.

But coronaviruses can also be deadly. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus and killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s.

Can the Wuhan coronavirus kill?

Yes – 170 people have so far died after testing positive for the virus.

What are the symptoms?

Some people who catch the Wuhan coronavirus may not have any symptoms at all, or only very mild ones like a sore throat or a headache.

Others may suffer from a fever, cough or trouble breathing.

And a small proportion of patients will go on to develop severe infection which can damage the lungs or cause pneumonia, a life-threatening condition which causes swelling and fluid build-up in the lungs.

How is it detected?

The virus’s genetic sequencing was released by scientists in China and countries around the world have used this to create lab tests, which must be carried out to confirm an infection.

Delays to these tests, to test results and to people getting to hospitals in China, mean the number of confirmed cases is expected to be just a fraction of the true scale of the outbreak.

How did it start and spread?

The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.

Cases have since been identified around China and are known to have spread from person to person.

What are countries doing to prevent the spread?

Countries in Asia have stepped up airport surveillance. They include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.

Australia and the US are also screening patients for a high temperature, and the UK announced it will screen passengers returning from Wuhan.

Is it similar to anything we’ve ever seen before?

Experts have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The epidemic started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MAILONLINE’S FULL Q&A ON THE CORONAVIRUS

British Airways yesterday announced it would be stopping all flights to and from mainland China for the forseeable future. It runs daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai from London Heathrow.

The airline said in a statement: ‘We have suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect following advice from the Foreign Office against all but essential travel.

‘We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority.

‘Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on ba.com.’

Virgin Atlantic said it would continue to run flights between Heathrow and Shanghai as scheduled, but passengers will be able to rebook or get a refund for free.

The airline issued a statement which read: ‘We continue to monitor the situation regarding coronavirus and will always follow guidance as set out by relevant authorities.

‘The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising against all but essential travel to mainland China, excluding Hong Kong.

‘For customers who have booked to travel to China, including Hong Kong, and would like to discuss their travel plans further, we would invite them to contact our customer care team via our SMS messaging system, on +44 (0)7481 339184.’

Airlines around the world have announced they are reducing services to China or stopping them altogether: action has been taken by Air France, Air KBZ (Myanmar), Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Lion Air, Myanmar Airways International, Myanmar National Airlines and Urals Airlines (Russia).

Kazakhstan has also announced it will stop all flights from February 3, and Hong Kong will halve the number of planes travelling to mainland China.

In the US, United Airlines said it would ‘trim’ its services to China because of a drop in demand.

US health officials have advised against all but essential travel to China as a whole, the same measure taken by the UK Government.

United said flights from the US to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong from February 1 were currently unaffected.

For US citizens stranded in the crisis-hit Wuhan, a flight chartered by the US Government yesterday retrieved 240 people and flew them back to America.

The plane first landed in Anchorage, Alaska to refuel.

It was then due to fly on to Ontario, California, but was diverted to a military base in Riverside.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman said: ‘The CDC just let us know the flight [would] be directed to March Air Force Base.’

He offered no explanation as to why, adding: ‘We were prepared for the worst.’

In the US there have been five cases of the Wuhan coronavirus confirmed already, and dozens more people have been tested in more than 20 states.

An A380 passenger plane left southern Portugal on Thursday en route to China where it will pick up hundreds of its citizens.

The plane took off from a former military airport at Beja, 120 miles (200km) southeast of Lisbon, carrying pilots and crew.

Captain Antonios Efthymiou said the flight would go first to Paris, where it would pick up a team of doctors and extra crew before heading to Hanoi, Vietnam, and then China.

He told Portuguese media it would bring back about 350 Europeans – but did not specify how many would be Portuguese nationals.

The Japanese government has also evacuated citizens from Wuhan and flown them to Tokyo. One of the evacuees, Takayuki Kato, said the atmosphere had turned dark inside Wuhan after it became clear how quickly the virus was spreading.

Mr Kato said: ‘Everyone in the city began wearing masks. On the 23rd, when transport was shut down, I became very alarmed.

He said the evacuation went smoothly and added: ‘The flight was quiet. People were cool-headed’.

Five passengers who said they felt unwell were hospitalised on arriving in Japan but there has not yet been confirmation of whether they were infected with the virus.

The Japan flight arrived in Wuhan overnight, carrying emergency relief supplies including 15,000 masks, 50,000 pairs of gloves and 8,000 protective glasses, the country’s foreign ministry said.

Four medical officials were also on board to monitor returning passengers and administer health questionnaires.

Everything we know we know about the deadly coronavirus in China: But how worried should we be?

Someone who is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.

FAMILIES TORN APART IN SCRAMBLE TO ESCAPE WUHAN

The scramble to evacuate coronavirus ground zero is tearing families apart, including one British man who says he is being forced to leave his Chinese wife behind to get his daughter to safety.

Up to 200 Britons are due to be evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan tomorrow and will be quarantined for two weeks in a UK military base.

British teacher Jeff Siddle is among them, along with his nine-year-old daughter Jasmine – but Beijing is barring his Chinese wife Sindy from boarding the rescue flight.

Mr Siddle and his family flew to Hubei province to spend time with his partner’s family and celebrate the Chinese New Year – before the warnings were in place about the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

Mr Siddle said today: ‘My wife’s a Chinese citizen, although she’s got a permanent residency visa for the UK as a spouse.

‘But what the Foreign Office is saying is they are going to be doing an airlift, possibly tomorrow, but it’s only [for] British citizens. Chinese authorities are not allowing any Chinese residents to leave.

Mr Siddle and his wife and daughter flew to Hubei before the outbreak to celebrate Lunar New Year

‘I was put in the position to make a decision to either leave my wife here in China, or the three of us stay here (in Wuhan). We have to basically have a nine-year-old child separated from their mother. Who knows how long that is going to be for?’

Other expats stranded in Wuhan and the wider Hubei province – including PE teacher Kharn Lambert and Malcolm Lanyon – have chosen to stay in the region.

Mr Lambert said he had given up his seat on the rescue flight because he does not want ‘to come home and put everybody’s health at risk’, while Mr Lanyon refused to leave his Chinese wife behind.

At least 170 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 8,000 have been infected in at least 18 countries and regions. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be 100,000, or even as high as 350,000 in Wuhan alone, as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here’s what we know so far:

What is the Wuhan coronavirus?

A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.

The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.

Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: ‘Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.

‘Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).

‘Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.’

The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started seeing infections on December 31.

By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.

The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 4,500.

Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 – possibly 9,700 – were infected in Wuhan alone. By that point, 26 people had died.

By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone.

By January 30, the number of deaths had risen to 170 and cases were in excess of 7,500.

Experts say the difficulty of containing the coronavirus is that so many patients have mild, cold-like symptoms and don’t realise they have the infection – but it can quickly turn deadly

Where does the virus come from?

Nobody knows for sure. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.

The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.

Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.

Bats are a prime suspect – researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a recent statement: ‘The Wuhan coronavirus’ natural host could be bats… but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.’

And another scientific journal article has suggested the virus first infected snakes, which may then have transmitted it to people at the market in Wuhan.

Peking University researchers analysed the genes of the coronavirus and said they most closely matched viruses which are known to affect snakes. They said: ‘Results derived from our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that snake is the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV,’ in the Journal of Medical Virology.

So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?

Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.

It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans’ lungs.

Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they’ve never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.

WHAT MIGHT AWAIT THE PASSENGERS TAKING UK EVACUATION FLIGHT?

People will be responsible for making their own way to the airport in Wuhan through a deserted city without any functioning public transport and with police roadblocks and traffic stops throughout the Hubei province.

They will be met by Chinese officials, potentially armed soldiers, at the airport.

Once in the care of staff at the airport, the British passengers will probably have their temperatures checked to see whether any of them have a fever.

On the plane, all flight attendants will likely be wearing at least face masks in a thoroughly disinfected cabin, which will probably have cleaning products on board for people to use during the long-haul journey.

Upon landing at an unspecified airport in London, the passengers will probably then have medical checks again before being taken to a military base, the location of which is unknown.

Japanese people who were evacuated by their own nation were met on the runway by coaches which then ferried them away from the airport – it is not clear what will happen in England.

Once out of the airport and at the quarantine location the passengers will be confined and looked after by health workers, government employees and possibly the military. Medical facilities will be set up on site to avoid having to take any infected patients to a public hospital.

They won’t be allowed out in public for two weeks, it is reported – this is because scientists have worked out the virus has an incubation period of around this long.

Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: ‘Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.

‘Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but it’s possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.’

If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.

‘My feeling is it’s lower,’ Dr Horby added. ‘We’re probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that’s the current circumstance we’re in.

‘Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.’

How does the virus spread?

The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.

It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky.

Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.

There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.

What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?

Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.

If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients – at least 97 per cent, based on available data – will recover from these without any issues or medical help.

In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.

What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?

Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.

This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.

Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.

However, the director-general of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.

This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.

More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.

How dangerous is the virus?

The virus has so far killed 170 people out of a total of at least 8,200 officially confirmed cases – a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.

However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher and therefore the death rate considerably lower. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18 – officially there were only 444 there to date. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the virus may be far less dangerous than currently believed.

Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded – the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.

Can the virus be cured?

The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.

Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.

No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it’s not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.

The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.

Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.

People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.

And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people’s temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).

However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.

Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?

The outbreak has not officially been confirmed as either an epidemic or a pandemic yet. This is likely because, despite the global concern, the number of people who have been confirmed to be infected is still relatively low.

A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organization as the ‘worldwide spread of a new disease’.

An epidemic is when a disease takes hold of a smaller community, such as a single country, region or continent.

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