Posted 31 January 2020 - 14:21
Posted 31 January 2020 - 14:21
News
Coronavirus: Britons on evacuation flight to be quarantined in NHS staff accommodation
Passengers transferred to Wirral trust, as first two cases are confirmed elsewhere in the UK
Passengers transferred to Wirral trust, as first two cases are confirmed elsewhere in the UK
RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire Picture: PA
British nationals evacuated from the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak are to be quarantined in NHS staff accommodation.
A flight from Wuhan carrying 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals arrived at the Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire at around 1.30pm on Friday.
The British passengers are being taken by bus to the staff residential block at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, where they will remain in quarantine for 14 days.
Passengers housed in hospital staff accommmodation
Derek Jones, regional officer for Unite, which has 1,000 members at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘Staff at the hospital will not be asked to treat those being quarantined as this is being dealt with centrally by the Department of Health and Social Care.’
He said staff had been asked to leave the accommodation at short notice to make way for the passengers arriving from China, but were being put up in hotels and apartments at NHS England’s expense.
‘Unite is satisfied that this emergency is being dealt with in a professional manner, but we will be monitoring how the situation develops in the coming days.’
The trust confirmed that the passengers will be isolated in a separate building, and that staff working in the hospital will not be in contact with them at any time.
Anyone with suspicious symptoms will be taken to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospital.
First cases of the coronavirus in the UK confirmed
Meanwhile, the first cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in the UK.
Two people, who are from the same family, are being treated by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s specialist airborne high consequences infectious disease centre.
It is understood that they travelled to the UK from China in recent days and had been staying at a hotel in Yorkshire, and are now undergoing treatment at the Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary.
NHS ‘well prepared’ to manage infection
Chief medical officer for England Chris Whitty said the patients were recieving specialist care and that ‘tried and tested’ infection control procedures were being used to prevent further spread of the virus.
‘The NHS is extremely well prepared and used to managing infections, and we are already working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had,’ he said.
Chinese health officials said on Friday morning that 9,962 cases of the virus and 213 deaths had been recorded since the outbreak began.
No deaths have occurred outside China, although cases have been confirmed in at least 23 countries.
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