Published 09:55 IST, February 1st 2020
Britain confirms 2 coronavirus cases after chartered planes bring evacuees home
Britain officials had anticipated that the UK most likely would detect a few coronavirus cases following mandatory evacuation of Britons from Hubei province.
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The United Kingdom has confirmed its first two cases of the novel coronavirus as the evacuation chartered flight landed on the territory from China's central province of Hubei where 213 deaths have been confirmed, the health chiefs informed the reports Friday.
According to the reports, the officials had anticipated that the UK most likely would detect a few cases following the mandatory evacuation of Britons from Hubei province, the epicentre of the 2019-nCoV global outbreak. Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, told the media reports that the patients were kept in isolation at a National Health Service that’s providing tried-and-tested infection control procedures to curb further contagion from the virus strain.
He further elaborated that the infection could be relatively minor with a 2 per cent mortality rate, however, the patients were transferred to a specialist infectious disease unit in Newcastle, Northeast England.
Chartered planes brought 83 British nationals home
Britain reportedly elevated the perceived risk level from Coronavirus to moderate from low in view of global health emergency declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Chartered planes transported 83 British nationals to RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire from Hubei province, a hub of the 2019-nCoV, who were accommodated in isolation at Arrowe park Hospital Friday, as per reports.
The planes were then dispatched to Madrid to deposit 27 European Union nationals, majorly the Spaniards, who would reportedly be quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid. The Britons suspected of contagion will be quarantined at NHS facility, Northwest of England for at least 14 days.
Ben Williams, an evacuee told the media that UK citizens expect that the government sequestered them as an effort to curb further contamination and not in the sense of solitary confinement, anyone detected negative to coronavirus tests shall be released with immediate effect. Michael Gove, a Senior British minister told the media that the UK was considering to dispatch another flight to Wuhan.
09:55 IST, February 1st 2020