FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street in London, Britain February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic

LONDON (Reuters) - China expressed concern to Boris Johnson’s father that the British prime minister had not sent a personal message of support to Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak, the BBC reported.

The prime minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, met Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming and emailed his worries to British officials but accidentally copied in the BBC.

“Re the outbreak of coronavirus, Mr Liu obviously was concerned that there had not yet - so he asserted - been direct contact between the PM and Chinese head of state or government in terms of a personal message or telephone call,” Stanley Johnson wrote to British officials, the BBC said.

Johnson also said he had raised the possibility of his son visiting China in October to attend an international conference on biodiversity, COP15, which will be held in Kunming.