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British coronavirus evacuee taken ill on flight home from China moved to separate hospital

Ross McGuinness
Updated ·3-min read
A person wearing a face mask walks down the steps of an aircraft repatriating British nationals to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, following its arrival at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)
A Briton evacuated from Wuhan fell ill during the flight that touched down at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Sunday (Picture: PA/Getty)

A British coronavirus evacuee bound for a hospital in the Wirral has been taken to a separate facility after falling ill on the flight from China.

The patient became unwell on the second evacuation flight from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak.

The person was bound for Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside to be quarantined with another 10 British evacuees.

However, after falling ill on the flight to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, they were taken to a different NHS hospital.

On Monday, Wirral Council said: “We were expecting a further 11 people, repatriated from Wuhan in China, to arrive and join current guests in the accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital last night.

“During the flight, one of the passengers started to feel slightly unwell, and self-isolated immediately. Upon landing, that passenger remained isolated, and was taken to another NHS hospital for tests.

“None of the other new arrivals have shown any symptoms, but as a precautionary measure they were allocated rooms in a separate area of the facility, isolated from those already there.”

Last Friday, 83 Britons were flown from Wuhan to the UK and then put in quarantine in a staff accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital.

A coach leaves RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, carrying passengers from a plane which transported British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)
A coach leaves RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, on Sunday, carrying passengers from a plane which transported British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China (Picture: PA/Getty)
WIRRAL, ENGLAND - JANUARY 31: A general view of Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, where British nationals evacuated from Wuhan Province are due to be quarantined, on January 31, 2020 in Wirral, England. Two people in the same family have been diagnosed with the Coronavirus in the UK, which has killed at least 213 people in China. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
Britons returning from China have been placed in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside (Picture: Getty)

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Both Wirral University Teaching Trust and the Department of Health declined to comment on the report when approached by Yahoo News UK.

A general view of the two blocks at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, where British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China are being quarantined. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
A general view of the two blocks at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, where British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China are being quarantined (Picture: PA/Getty)

The first confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK were confirmed last week.

Two people, a University of York student and one of their relatives, are being treated for the infection at a specialist unit in Newcastle.

On Sunday, the Department of Health quashed an inaccurate report that there was a third UK case involving a Chinese soldier from Shanghai being treated at a hospital in the West Midlands.

Meanwhile, the British Embassy in Beijing said remaining Britons wishing to leave the coronavirus-hit region of Hubei will be able to return on a number of flights this week.

"We are working hard to get seats on those flights for British nationals and their immediate families - the Chinese authorities have confirmed that this would include Chinese and third-party nationals,” the embassy said.

It added that they "may be the last flights available for foreign nationals out of Hubei".