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Coronavirus: UK to evacuate 200 Brits from Wuhan at 9pm

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The UK has been forced to postpone the evacuation of nearly 200 citizens from coronavirus-ravaged Wuhan as it has not yet been granted the right permissions to leave by authorities.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has confirmed that a delayed evacuation of UK citizens from Wuhan will be able to leave tonight (UK time).

The UK had postponed the evacuation of nearly 200 citizens from coronavirus-ravaged Wuhan because it had not yet been granted the right permissions to leave by authorities.

However, a rescheduled evacuation will now take place on Friday at 5am local time (9pm GMT tonight).

“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,” Raab said.

“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.”

The flight will land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday morning, around 8.45am local time.

Britain has chartered a plane from Spain for the evacuation, Sky News reports. Three military medics will be on board, along with Public Health England officials.

An isolation area will be created on the aircraft. And the Brits must follow any medical advice they receive, according to Sky News.

Once returned to the UK, those who have been evacuated will be quarantined for 14 days at a National Health Service facility.

Deaths from the coronavirus rose by 38 to 170 yesterday, the largest daily rise since the outbreak began.

The first confirmed case in Tibet now means that the coronavirus has spread to every region in China.

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As of last night health authorities had confirmed 7,711 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

However, some British families risk not being able to bring relatives with Chinese passports with them as part of the evacuation.

English teacher Natalie Francis was told by the Foreign Office that she would not be able to take her three-year-old son with her because he has a Chinese passport, even though he is a British citizen.

A number of other countries have evacuations planned, such as France and South Korea.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will decide later today if the outbreak constitutes a global health emergency. Last week it said the outbreak was only an emergency in China.

Today British Airways announced that it is suspending all flights to mainland China until 29 February in a bid to curb the spread of infection.