Pressure builds on Boris Johnson to evacuate Britons from China over killer coronavirus

Ministers came under growing pressure today to evacuate Britons from the Chinese region shut down by the killer coronavirus.

The Government faced calls to swiftly arrange an airlift after other countries including France, the US and Japan outlined their plans to repatriate their citizens from Hubei province at the centre of the escalating infection crisis.

The Foreign Office this morning appealed to Britons stranded in the city of Wuhan and elsewhere to get in touch as it geared up for a possible airlift.

In a statement, it said: “We are working to make available an option for British nationals to leave Hubei province. If you are a British national in Hubei Province and require assistance, please contact our 24/7 number +86 (0) 10 8529 6600 or the FCO (+44) (0)207 008 1500.”

The appeal went out as the death toll in China rose to 81 , with the number of confirmed cases jumping about 30 per cent to more than 2,700.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, a Labour leadership contender, pointed the finger at the Prime Minister’s office: “Boris Johnson is now failing in the first duty of any government — he is not doing whatever it takes to protect our citizens from harm. They need to get this evacuation sorted now.”

An FCO spokesman said: “We are working to make an option available for British nationals to leave Hubei Province due to the heavy travel restrictions and increased difficulty of accessing consular or medical assistance.

“The safety and security of British nationals is our number one priority. We continue to monitor developments and are in close touch with the Chinese authorities.”

A No 10 source said intense efforts were under way to help Britons. “The Foreign Office are in close contact with international partners to investigate possible solutions,” the source added.

The British evacuation plan was being stepped up as:

• Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, said she believed that coronavirus might have already arrived in the UK.

• China lengthened its week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to February 2 in an attempt to contain the virus.

• The FTSE 100 and other markets fell amid growing worries about the economic impact of the virus spreading across China and into other countries.

About 300 Britons are believed to be in Hubei province. Whitehall sources played down suggestions that the Chinese authorities were refusing to be co-operative over an airlift.

However, other nations appeared to have more advanced evacuation plans than the UK, although it was not clear whether these had been given the green light by China. The US Embassy in Beijing said the Department of State was making arrangements to repatriate its staff from the US Consulate General in Wuhan. “We anticipate that there will be limited capacity to transport private US citizens on a reimbursable basis on a single flight leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on January 28 and proceeding directly to San Francisco,” it added.

In Tokyo, a government official said Japan would dispatch a chartered plane to Wuhan, possibly tomorrow, to bring back citizens who wish to return home.

With 560 Japanese citizens in Hubei, several evacuation flights would take place, pending negotiations with Chinese authorities.

French health minister Agnes Buzyn said French citizens who want to leave Wuhan will be taken on a direct flight to France, possibly in the middle of the week, and then held in quarantine for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus. Three cases are reported in the country — the first in Europe to be affected.

Spain’s foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said: “We’re working with our consulate in Beijing and officials in China and the EU to repatriate about 20 Spaniards in Wuhan.”

The Chinese authorities cut transportation links to and from Wuhan on January 22 and have since expanded those controls to several nearby cities. Anyone travelling from Wuhan is required to register and quarantine themselves for 14 days.

Asked on Sky News if there could be cases already in Britain, Professor Doyle said: “I would expect so ... that is the scenario we have been preparing for.”

Fifty-two patients suspected to have the virus have been tested in the UK. All tests came back negative.