Group of 83, who pose no threat after testing negative for coronavirus, thanks NHS staff

The first British coronavirus evacuees flown back to the UK from Wuhan, China, have left quarantine, shouting “we’re free” and thanking staff for their compassion “in our time of turmoil”.

Eighty-three British men, women and children were allowed to leave isolation at Arrowe Park hospital, Wirral, on Thursday, having been evacuated by the Foreign Office at the end of January.

All of the group, who signed a contract agreeing to the quarantine period, have tested negative for the virus. Another 11 are expected to leave on Saturday.

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At Arrowe Park, security guards stood outside the hospital as a number of visitors were allowed through the steel fence surrounding the accommodation block where the quarantined patients were kept.

Matt Raw, 38, raised his fist as he was let out through locked gates surrounding the apartment block where he has been staying and said: “We’re free ... and the sun’s shining.”

Raw, from Knutsford, Cheshire, was selected by NHS England and agreed to speak to the media. Other patients left in blacked-out coaches, with the first leaving at around 12.30pm. They were subsequently seen boarding trains at Liverpool’s Lime Street station and being dropped off in other locations in Wirral.

Raw said: “Some good fresh air and very, very, very happy that all 83 of us have tested negative for the virus and I guess now back to business as usual.

“It is absolutely lovely to be out and I’ll no doubt be going out for a pint a little bit later.”

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said all the evacuees had been given a clean bill of health and that their departure presented no risk to the public.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Wuhan evacuees leave Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

It comes after a ninth UK case was confirmed on Wednesday evening – the first person diagnosed with the virus in London. The patient, who is now being treated at a specialist NHS centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, contracted the virus in China, England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said.

During their time in quarantine it was rumoured one of the Wuhan evacuees had threatened to abscond from the isolation unit, prompting the government to announce new legal powers allowing people suspected of having the virus to be forcibly quarantined and sent into isolation if deemed to pose a threat.

Another of those kept in isolation wrote a touching note to staff on one of the hospital windows.

A message of thanks written to staff from an evacuee. Photograph: Public Health England/Twitter/PA

They said: “I didn’t want to leave without expressing my deepest gratitude for what you have done for us these past two weeks.

“I arrived as a potential carrier of a deadly virus. I was a little anxious to know how I would be received. I needn’t have been; you greeted us warmly with gifts, cards, flowers and smiles. You made us feel welcome.

“In our time of turmoil you took care of us with compassion and professionalism. The experience has been humbling.”



Raw, a locksmith, who had previously described conditions at the former students’ accommodation block as “like staying at a hotel”, added: “It has not been that bad because they have looked after us so excellently. The wonderful, wonderful staff of the NHS, they have really done their very best to make us as comfortable as possible.

“The last thing that any one of us would have wanted is to have passed that virus on, if we were infected, to pass it on to somebody else. You have to live with that. If somebody does get sick from it and dies we’d have to live with that knowledge for the rest of our lives and of course that’s not who we are.”

He said the reports of a person trying to abscond were a case of “mistaken identity”, as security had thought a member of staff was a patient.

Raw said he was ecstatic when he tested negative for the virus. He added: “For 83 of us to all come back and all test negative was just absolutely phenomenally good news.” He said he now planned to go home, turn the heating on and feed the goldfish after leaving the hospital, adding: “It’ll be lovely to be back and to see friends and family.”

Raw made the flight at short notice, after initially being told that his Chinese wife, Ying, who has a visitor visa for the UK, would not be allowed to travel. However, the Chinese authorities decided to ease the restrictions and the couple were flown to the UK with his mother, Hazel, who has dementia.

Raw said he would eventually like to return to Wuhan, adding: “This could have happened absolutely anywhere in the world, it’s just unlucky and sad it happened to happen in Wuhan. Wuhan is still home from home for me.”

The evacuation flight carrying 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals landed at Brize Norton RAF base, in Oxfordshire, on 31 January.

The group’s release comes a day after Steve Walsh, the businessman thought to be at the centre of the UK outbreak of coronavirus, was discharged from hospital after making a full recovery and deemed to be no longer contagious.

On Thursday, China confirmed 254 additional deaths attributed to coronavirus, bringing the total to 1,370, amid a purge of party officials over criticism of their handling of the outbreak. All but two of the deaths have been in China.

Dr Kieran Murphy, the deputy medical director for NHS England in the north-west, said a second contingent of patients would leave on Saturday.

Murphy thanked staff and visitors at the hospital for their “generosity, patience and compassion”.