British residents in quarantine anxious over news that Belgian woman on same flight has tested positive

A group of UK evacuees from Wuhan, the city at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, had not been formally told that one of the other passengers on their flight has since been tested positive for the virus, the Guardian can reveal.

Belgium’s health agency announced on Tuesday that a Belgian woman was found to be carrying the virus after travelling back from Wuhan on a French repatriation flight on Sunday.

Confirmation of the case has caused concerned among a group of 11 British residents who were on the flight with her and are now in quarantine in Arrowe Park in Wirral. They said they had not been given any information about it from the UK authorities.

Jeff Siddle, his wife, Sindy, and their nine-year-old daughter, Jasmine, read about the Belgian case in media reports.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “It’s given us concern again. We’re now back to worrying.”

He is anxious that the woman, who displayed no flu symptoms, may have passed on the virus to other passengers. Siddle, a 54-year-old software developer, said: “Especially on an airplane, you always get colds and stuff because everyone’s packed so tightly together. So we’ve got stress on that again.”

Adam Bridgeman, who was evacuated with his Chinese wife and one-month-old baby son, said he did not know about the Belgian case. He said: “I understand the authorities might not have wanted to further stress us out. I don’t mind having not been formally notified.”

The group of 11 UK nationals and their families were among more than 250 people who were flown back from Wuhan. The French chartered flight, which included evacuees from 30 different countries, landed at a military airbase in Istres, southern France. The non-French evacuees were then flown to their respective countries.

Twenty evacuees presented some coronavirus symptoms and stayed at the military airbase to allow tests to be carried out.

None of the 83 British people and 27 foreign nationals onboard the first UK-chartered evacuation flight, which left last Friday, have since been tested positive.

Siddle believes that confirmation of the positive test for one of the passengers on the second flight may make treatment more complicated for the 11 UK evacuees who were onboard.

He said: “The staff here know this is going to add an extra dimension on us compared to the first flight in terms of medical tests and screening and things, but we don’t know exact details on that yet, it’s still to be decided.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was aware that a Belgian woman on the flight had since tested positive. He said: “Public Health England were notified that the Belgian national had tested positive. As far as we are concerned, all those who were on the flight are in supervised isolation and are being monitored for any symptoms. It has not been made clear to us that there are any other cases.”

Public Health England has yet to comment on why the UK evacuees were not formally informed about the Belgian case.