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Saturday 1 February 2020 09:20
Britain is withdrawing its Foreign Office staff from China hours after dozens of UK nationals were evacuated from the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.
They arrived at a hospital in Merseyside on Friday, where they will spend 14 days in quarantine.
Their arrival came as the UK’s first cases of the new disease were confirmed, with health officials urgently trying to trace those who came into contact with two people diagnosed with the virus.
Meanwhile, China’s death toll from the new virus rose to 259 on Saturday, with the number of confirmed cases reaching 11,791, surpassing the number in the 2002-2003 Sars outbreak.
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The rescued UK nationals were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral in a convoy of six coaches shortly after 7.15pm Friday. They will spend the next 14 days in quarantine.
The evacuation flight from Wuhan carried 83 Britons and 27 non-UK nationals. It landed at the Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire around 1.30pm.
The Foreign Office has began pulling its staff out of China after evacuating dozens of UK nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan.
Essential staff will remain to continue “critical work,” but the FCO has warned its ability to provide help to Britons in the country may be “limited”.
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