Coronavirus: 97 people tested for deadly disease in UK

Scientists predict virus may already have arrived in country

A total of 97 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK and all have been confirmed negative, the Department of Health has said.

More than 100 people who contracted the deadly virus have now died in China, and more than 4,500 cases have been identified globally.

Scientists have predicted it may already have arrived in the UK.

It comes as UK citizens stranded in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, have been urged to contact the British consulate as part of evacuation plans.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has said the government is “working on” how to bring people home from the Chinese city.

Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast: “For anybody who is there, one of the issues we have, working with our partners internationally on this, is actually identifying how many British citizens there are in Wuhan.

“One of the things we’re asking people to do is to contact the consulate there to make them aware. People have started to do that.

“We are working on arrangements as well.”

He added: “If they actually contact the consulate where they are then that consulate is in fact gathering together all the information of the people who are there, in order to help repatriate where that’s appropriate.”

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has previously insisted the government is doing “everything we can” to get Britons out of Hubei province.

Officials estimate up to 200 citizens currently there will want to return to the UK.

Hubei province has been on lockdown for several days as China seeks to contain the illness, as have other parts of China.

On Monday, Matt Hancock, the health secretery, called on people who have returned from Wuhan to “self-isolate” even if they have no symptoms.

Some 1,561 people are now known to have entered the UK from Wuhan since 10 January, including airline crew, although some have since left again.

Just 10 per cent of these people supplied an email address to the airline and have been contacted with advice on what to do if they feel ill.

Mr Hancock said Public Health England officials were trying to trace the others.

Additional reporting by agencies