Eleven Britons who did not make it onto the first evacuation flight from China's coronavirus epicentre have now arrived back in the UK.

They landed at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, on Sunday evening and are being taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, where they will spend 14 days in quarantine.

The group - made up of British nationals and family members - will join 83 people already under observation after being flown back from Wuhan on Friday.

It comes as a UK-wide campaign was launched offering the public advice on how to stop the spread of the deadly virus after Britain's first two confirmed cases.

Life inside the UK's coronavirus quarantine

The pair - who fell ill while staying at a hotel in York - are members of the same family, and one of them is a student at the University of York.


The two patients are being treated at a specialist hospital unit in Newcastle and health authorities are urgently trying to trace anyone who has come into contact with them.

The university has confirmed the affected student did not attend the recent graduation ceremonies or the student organised Chinese New Year celebration in the city.

Reports that a third person in the UK was being treated for coronavirus in Walsall were a false alarm, Sky News understands.

Image: The British nationals were flown from China back to the UK on a Maltese plane arranged by France

More than 240 calls have been made to a dedicated helpline set up by the University of York after the student was confirmed as having the virus.

Of the 266 tests so far carried out in the UK, two have been positive.

The 11 UK citizens arrived back from China on Sunday on board a Maltese plane arranged by France. Sky News understands the group of Britons includes children.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "They will go to the Arrowe Park facility and all of the protections, the support during the 14-day period will be put in place.

"So they will be treated very well, and of course the reason we need to do that is on the one hand we want to get the UK nationals that want to leave China out, on the other hand we need to make sure we control and prevent the spread of the coronavirus because of the implications that that would have."

"The challenge has been immense" - Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab explains why it's been difficult to evacuate British people from Wuhan.#Ridge #Coronavirus



Follow Sunday politics live here: https://t.co/juvInelkti pic.twitter.com/nic5XNif3H — Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) February 2, 2020

Yvonne Griffiths, a British lecturer who is among the 83 people already at the facility, spoke to Sky News from her room in quarantine, saying they are being treated well but are unsure whether their isolation will be extended because of the arrival of the new group of Britons.

She said: "It's a little bit strange to be home, and not home.

"I'm feeling really grateful to have managed to be on that evacuation flight the other day. We've had an amazingly warm welcome from all the staff here at Arrowe Park and really couldn't have asked for more.

"We're being well looked after and I think it's a matter now of just being patient and waiting day by day, ticking each day off."

Public Health England have also moved to give assurances about why the drivers of coaches used to transport those in quarantine to the isolation facility were not required to wear protective suits, unlike the medics onboard.

A letter sent to the head of the coach firm, seen by Sky News, said none of the passengers had displayed symptoms of infection on arrival and the medical teams had worn the special clothing as a precaution, should they need to treat anyone in transit.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

The drivers had also been kept separate from the quarantined passengers and were the last to board the vehicle.

PHE incident director Susan Hopkins wrote: "The drivers do not pose a risk to public health as a result of driving these passengers to their accommodation and should go about their daily lives as normal."

She also said that "people should have no concerns about using these vehicles".

Meanwhile, a man in the Philippines has become the first person outside China to die from the outbreak.

The outbreak has so far claimed the lives of 361 people in China while the number of confirmed cases of infection has now topped 17,205.

The rapid spread of the virus in two months recently prompted the World Health Organisation to declare it a global emergency.

It has called on governments to prepare for "domestic outbreak control".

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Around 150 cases have been reported across at least 25 other countries including the US, Russia, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the WHO insisting travel restrictions are not needed, the US and Australia are among a number of countries to ban entry to foreign internationals who have recently been in China.

A growing number of international airlines has also suspended all or some flights to China.

Efforts to contain the virus threatens to slow growth of the world's second largest economy.