The UK Foreign Office has today told all 30,000 British nationals in China to get out of the country as the death toll from the coronavirus sweeping the world hit 427.
In a drastic escalation of its official advice to avoid the country, the Government is now urging people to actively leave in a bid to protect their own health.
But evacuees must pay their own way out of the locked-down nation.
Officials said people will be left to find 'commercial options' and stump up for travel costs themselves.
There will be no more evacuation flights arranged by the British Government, officials said today, but people in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak, may be able to hitch rides out of the disaster zone on other countries' planes.
And there has been backlash online with people worried that telling people in China to scatter risks spreading the disease further, and that the UK can't keep tabs on everyone returning in order to screen them for infection.
The move comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock today said the UK expects to see more cases of the disease and that the peak of the outbreak is a long way off.
Only two people have been diagnosed so far on British soil – they are being treated in isolation at a hospital in Newcastle.
The global coronavirus situation as it stands is:
- At least 20,702 people are confirmed to have been infected and 472 are dead
- 28 countries and territories around the world have confirmed cases
- Belgium today became the latest country to confirm, with one patient in hospital
- Hong Kong and the Philippines have recorded the first deaths outside of China
- The World Health Organization considers the outbreak a global emergency
- A study published yesterday all but confirmed the virus has spread from bats
- At least 30 commercial global airlines have cancelled flights to and from China
No comments:
Post a Comment