Eight Britons evacuated from coronavirus-hit Wuhan are trapped in quarantine 12,000 miles away in New Zealand after officials told them to hitch a lift on the Auckland-bound flight because they could not guarantee another UK repatriation.
The British nationals and six of their family members were whisked into isolation along with 184 other passengers and crew at the Whangaparaoa naval training base after landing at 5am this morning.
They were shoehorned onto the Air New Zealand flight on Wednesday after the Government refused to reveal whether it would send another airlift for UK nationals trapped in Wuhan.
But in a screeching U-turn, officials announced they were chartering one last flight to repatriate an estimated 165 Britons stranded in the outbreak’s epicentre and the wider Hubei province.
The eight Britons in New Zealand will be swabbed and tested for the killer virus before being held in isolation for two weeks while arrangements are made by the UK Government to fly them home.
MailOnline understands they will be put on a commercial flight to London sometime after February 20 and the cost of their tickets will be paid for by the Foreign Office.
However they will not be quarantined when they come back to Britain – sparking fears coronavirus could sweep the UK if they are unknowingly carrying the virus and pass it onto someone on the flight home.
It comes as the epidemic’s death toll surged to nearly 500 and infections soared to more than 24,500.
Eight Britons evacuated from coronavirus-hit Wuhan hitched a lift on an Air New Zealand flight (shown) with 190 other passengers and crew last night. It landed at 5am this morning (UK time)
The British nationals were whisked into quarantine along with 190 other passengers and crew at the Whangaparaoa naval training base after landing at 5am this morning
Passengers arriving at Auckland International Airport on February 5 wore face masks as news spread that an evacuation plane was incoming
The Foreign Office yesterday warned all 30,000 UK nationals stuck in mainland China to return to the UK in a desperate bid to protect their health as the death toll surged to nearly 500 and infections rose to more than 24,500
The UK Government is chartering a final flight to bring citizens back from Wuhan on Sunday morning to RAF Brize Norton.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: ‘We have been working round the clock to help British nationals leave Hubei province, on UK, French and New Zealand flights.
‘The Foreign Office is chartering a second and final UK flight with space to help all British nationals and their dependants remaining in Hubei to leave.
‘I encourage all British nationals in Hubei to register with our teams if they want to leave on this flight.’
Last Friday, 83 UK citizens were repatriated on a flight out of Wuhan arranged by the UK government and another 11 Britons joined them on Sunday on a French flight.
At the airport in Auckland, New Zealand’s health minister Ashley Bloomfield said nobody on the flight had become unwell and there were no suspected cases.
Seven buses transported the near-200 passengers and crew to the naval training base, with Mr Bloomberg telling local media they were in ‘high spirits’ and ‘relieved to be in New Zealand’. Around 60 people who signed up to get on the flight did not turn up, he added.
There were 54 New Zealand citizens on board, and 44 New Zealand permanent residents with Chinese passports.
Also on the plane were 35 Australian passengers – 23 citizens and 12 residents on Chinese passports.
A number of foreign nationals were also on the flight, predominantly from the Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Uzbekistan and the Netherlands. The eight British nationals filled the remaining seats.
Since January 20 almost 500 people have been killed by the Wuhan coronavirus – all in mainland China excluding one in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong
Almost 25,000 people have been infected around the world, including the UK, US, France and Australia
Police about to escort buses transporting passengers off Wuhan flight to Whangaporoa Military Base from Auckland International Airport
Passengers arriving at Auckland International Airport wear face masks amid the coronavirus epidemic
Dr Ashley Bloomfield said nobody on the evacuation flight had become unwell and there were no suspected cases
It comes after the UK Government warned all 30,000 UK nationals living in China to leave the country in a dramatic escalation of its official advice.
The Foreign Office is now actively urging people to leave the country in a bid to protect their own health amid fears the coronavirus crisis will continue to escalate.
Despite the US, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan barring foreign travellers from China, the UK is still permitting arrivals from the virus-stricken country.
It further advises that anyone who has travelled from the virus-stricken country in the last two weeks should remain indoors and call NHS 111 if they develop symptoms.
But the announcement sparked an immediate backlash as it emerged all evacuees outside of Wuhan – the city at the centre of the outbreak – must find their own way out, despite many airlines cancelling flights and major cities being sealed off by authorities.
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth told BBC Breakfast the government response was ‘irresponsible’.
He aded: ‘Yesterday Dominic Raab said all British nationals in China should make their way home.
‘If Dominic Raab is saying everybody needs to return to the UK the I’m afraid the government has to do more to get those nationals home. You can’t just make those announcements and not offer any serious help.
‘The government can put in place plans to get them on flights, they can charter more flights if they think it is important as they presumably do because Mr Raab has said they should come home.’
Asked whether the government should be paying for people to return to the UK, he said: ‘The Foreign Secretary cannot make these statements and not back them up with any action.’
His comments came after Mr Raab warned there will be just one more UK-led evacuation flight.
He said people in Wuhan would now be able to instead hitch rides out of the disaster zone on other countries’ planes. Just 100 of 300 British nationals living in Wuhan have been airlifted out so far.
The only two UK airlines serving China – British Airways and Virgin Atlantic – have grounded their flights due to the outbreak. Several others are continuing to operate flights, including Air China, China Southern Airlines, and Shenzhen Airlines.
The Foreign Office amended its travel advice after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he expects more cases to be diagnosed in the UK and warned worldwide cases of the disease are doubling every five days.
The announcement also sparked accusations the government will be ‘spreading disease’ across the UK as it will be unable to monitor thousands of returning Britons if they are arriving on commercial flights. There are also currently no plans to quarantine those returning on normal flights.
Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, said the Government’s plans were a ‘shambles’ and added: ‘The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens’.
Only two people have been diagnosed so far on British soil – they are being treated in isolation at a hospital in Newcastle.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday: ‘The safety and security of British people will always be our top priority.
‘As such, we now advise British Nationals in China to leave the country if they can, to minimise their risk of exposure to the virus.
‘Where there are still British Nationals in Hubei Province who wish to be evacuated, we will continue to work around the clock to facilitate this.’
The upgraded warning comes after people still stuck in the Hubei province, which is at the centre of the outbreak and has had the vast majority of cases and deaths, were told to get in touch with the Foreign Office (FCO) if they want to come home.
Although the FCO earlier said it was not planning any more of its own flights to repatriate people, citizens may be allowed on other countries’ missions.
The lack of serious preparation has provoked anger among people in China, those at home and even in Parliament.
The Foreign Office’s new advice is not believed to have been triggered by the outbreak getting worse, but by the risk of people running out of options if they do leave.
The British Embassy and consulates in China are moving non-essential staff out of the country, the BBC reported. Its China correspondent, Robin Brant, said this would mean ‘there are fewer people who can help any Britons in distress’.
Flight sharing between evacuating countries, which appears to be the only remaining option for Brits in the Hubei province, has been going on since the evacuations began.
What do we know about the Wuhan coronavirus?
Someone who is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.
BRITISH FATHER WHO WAS STUCK IN WUHAN TELLS OF HIS JOY AT BEING BACK IN BRITAIN – EVEN THOUGH HE’S IN QUARANTINE
A father who was stuck in Wuhan with his young family has told of his joy at arriving back in Britain after being stuck in the deserted coronavirus-ravaged city.
Adam Bridgeman, 33, wife Su and their baby Austin touched down last night after getting seats on a plane to take them out of the locked-down city.
Mr Bridgeman, who had been living in China for six years, and his family had rushed to get a plane last Friday arranged by the Foreign Office to get them out of the city.
But they were unable to get to the airport on time. However, they boarded a flight bound for France yesterday, and then transferred to England.
Adam Bridgeman, 33, wife Su and their baby Austin touched down last night after getting seats on a plane to take them out of the locked-down city (pictured together)
Speaking from quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Mr Bridgeman said: ‘It was a very long and multi-leg journey.
‘We had to first get to the French Consulate, then there was the trip to the airport, then we had to wait for the plane.
‘There were many many steps to get to where we are now with each step taking a few hours at least.’
There had been concerns about whether Su, 31, and four-week-old Austin – who does not have a passport or ID – would be able to travel.
Mr Bridgeman, who works for a gaming company, said: ‘I was worried about my son most of all because he’s so young.
‘Because he’s got no vaccinations, he’s very vulnerable to all sorts of things.’
‘We were not too sure if we were going to leave because I didn’t want to leave my wife.’
He added that authorities had told the family that Beijing was blocking any Chinese citizens from leaving in the evacuation attempts.
Speaking of his relief, Mr Bridgeman said: ‘I don’t know how it happened but the Chinese government agreed to let my wife and my son on the plane.
At least 490 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 24,000 have been infected in at least 28 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 7,000.
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 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000.
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.
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 490 people out of a total of at least 24,000 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.
