Flight carrying Britons and other foreign nationals evacuated from Wuhan lands in UK
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An evacuation flight carrying Britons out of the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, has landed in the UK.
It comes as the death toll in China from the coronavirus has risen to 813, surpassing SARS fatalities in the 2002-2003 outbreak.
The plane has more than 200 people on board, including non British nationals, the British government said.
The passengers also included British government staff and military medics and arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Sunday morning.
An FCO spokesman 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.”
On the flight there were also eight Italians that were evacuated.
The passengers from Wuhan will be assessed and will continue to be monitored after landing in the UK.
Anyone displaying symptoms would not have been permitted to board the plane.
Officials said that anyone developing symptoms on the flight would have been taken to a separate cabin on the plane.
And any passenger displaying symptoms on landing would be transferred to an NHS hospital.
The first group of Britons who returned on a flight last month are currently quarantined at Arrow Park in Merseyside.
Outside China, there are 288 cases of the virus in 24 countries, with one death, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
