British government will force 200 evacuees to sign a WAIVER agreeing to two-week quarantine on UK military base

Britons flying home from Wuhan on an emergency evacuation flight tomorrow are expected to have to sign a waiver allowing the Government to keep them in military quarantine for two weeks in case they're infected.

Up to 200 British expats who have scrambled for a place on the emergency flight out have finally been told the government has chartered a plane to rescue them on the condition they agree to the isolation period.

Evacuees offered seats on the flight, on which they will be treated as contagious cargo, will be transported by guards and shuttled around by heavily-protected government workers.

When the plane does land – the time of its arrival is also unknown – passengers can expect to be met by hazmat-wearing officials who will check their health and lead them to a secure safehouse away from the British public.
 

Anyone who gets off the flight sick with the coronavirus, which has killed 133 people in China and infected more than 6,000 around the world, will be the first person known to have brought the contagion onto UK soil.

And those taking the Government's offer of a safe haven will be expected to sign away their right to freedom beforehand – it is understood all passengers may be forced to sign a contract agreeing to allow the Government to isolate them for a fortnight or be left behind.

In a tweet today Mr Hancock said: 'We are working hard to get British nationals back from Wuhan. Public safety is the top priority. 

'Anyone who returns from Wuhan will be safely isolated for 14 days, with all necessary medical attention.'  

Nobody in the UK has yet been diagnosed with the condition, although experts do expect a case – at least 97 people have been tested and all got the all-clear.

In other developments in the Wuhan coronavirus crisis:

• Some 133 people have now died across China and more than 6,000 around the world have caught the infectious virus
• Cases of coronavirus have tripled since Sunday and jumped 30 per cent in the last 24 hours - now infecting people in 19 different countries 
• The outbreak in mainland China is now bigger than the 2003 SARS epidemic, when 5,327 cases of the killer virus were confirmed  
• British Airways has cancelled all flights to and from mainland China until March, cutting off yet another way out of China – all international flights from Wuhan were stopped last week 
• A US evacuation flight that took off from Wuhan yesterday is on its way to a military base in Ontario, California, where its 240 passengers will be kept in quarantine for 'at least 72 hours' 
• Health officials in Beijing fear the epidemic will continue to get worse and peak 'in the next 10 days' 
• Confirmed infections in the United Arab Emirates mark the first time the virus has spread to the Middle East   
• Four people in Germany who contracted coronavirus after a colleague from China visited their workplace only had 'very mild' symptoms

MailOnline