Coronavirus: Second flight evacuates Britons from Wuhan

Eleven British nationals flying to UK via France on French evacuation flight

More British nationals are being flown back to the UK after missing the first evacuation flight from the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Eleven Britons landed near Marseille, in France, at lunchtime on Sunday after securing places on a French evacuation flight out of Wuhan, the BBC reported.

They will be flown on to the UK where they will join the initial raft of 83 citizens at Arrowe Park Hospital, in Wirral, Merseyside.

The first group have been in quarantine at an NHS staff accommodation block after arriving in the UK on Friday.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “It’s correct there is a further French flight that is expected back in Europe today and that will carry some UK nationals.”

It comes as the government launches a public health campaign advising people on how to slow the spread of coronavirus.

From Sunday, advertisements warning people to use tissues when sneezing or coughing and to wash their hands regularly will appear in newspapers, on the radio and on social media.

The ads will also target publications and forums known to be read by Chinese nationals in the UK, the Department of Health said.

The Philippines reported the first coronavirus death outside of China on Sunday.

A 44-year-old man from Wuhan, in central Hubei province, died in a Manila hospital after developing severe pneumonia, the Philippines Department of Health said.

He was the companion of a 38-year-old Chinese woman, also from Wuhan, who was the first and only other person to test positive for the virus in the Philippines.

A University of York student and their relative remain the only two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Britain.

The pair continue to be treated at a specialist unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary hospital, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, after falling ill at a Staycity apartment-hotel in York.

University officials have sought to reassure other students and the wider community that the student had not been on campus since being infected and was not there in the period beforehand.

Public Health England (PHE) is continuing to try and trace people who had close contact – defined as being within two metres for 15 minutes – with the pair.

A total of 201 tests for coronavirus in the UK have been confirmed negative, the Department of Health said in the latest figures released on Saturday afternoon.

The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in China reached 304 by the end of Saturday, up by 45 from the previous day, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the country’s National Health Commission.

More than 14,000 people have been infected so far.

Additional reporting by agencies