Coronavirus: Final Evacuation Flight Lands At RAF Brize Norton

A plane carrying British citizens evacuated from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan landed at RAF Brize Norton this morning at 7:30.

More than 200 people, including some foreign nationals, were on the flight and military medics were on board to assist the operation.

The passengers have been taken to the Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where they will be quarantined for 14 days.

It comes as another person has tested positive for the virus in England, bringing the total number of cases in the country to four.

"A further patient has tested positive for novel coronavirus in England, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to four," Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said.

"The new case is a known contact of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France," he added.

Meanwhile, a British national in Majorca tested positive for coronavirus while his wife and daughters tested negative.

The death toll in China from the coronavirus has risen to 811, surpassing SARS fatalities in the 2002-2003 outbreak.

China’s National Health Commission said total cases in the country from the virus had increased by 2,656 in the 24 hours to Sunday morning to reach 37,198, down from the 3,399 new cases announced a day earlier.

Passengers on the plane from Wuhan will be assessed and will continue to be monitored.

Anyone displaying symptoms would not have been permitted to board the plane.

Officials said any passengers developing symptoms on the flight were to be taken to a separate cabin on the plane.

The first group of Britons who returned on a flight last month are continuing their quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital, Merseyside.

Outside China there are 288 cases in 24 countries, with one death, according to the World Health Organisation.

Meanwhile, five Britons have tested positive for coronavirus in France. They were diagnosed after coming into contact with a British national who had recently returned from Singapore.

The five British nationals, who are not in a serious condition, were staying in the Alpine resort area of Contamines-Montjoie near Mont Blanc.

French officials said the British national who was in Singapore returned on 24 January and stayed for four days in the area in eastern France, before returning to England on 28 January.

Cover image: People wearing facemasks disembark from the aircraft repatriating British nationals at RAF Brize Norton (Picture: PA).