Angry South Koreans volleyed eggs and expletives on Thursday at a minister and officials trying to defuse their ire over plans to quarantine hundreds of citizens set to be flown home from the epicentre of a new virus epidemic in China.

The first of up to four flights planned to evacuate South Koreans from Wuhan departed on Thursday carrying some 360 people, after an unexpected hours-long delay because China had only approved one flight.

South Korea also reported its fifth and sixth confirmed cases of the virus on Thursday, including the first patient infected in South Korea. Previous cases only involved people who had travelled to Wuhan.

As the South Koreans were gearing up to fly out of Wuhan, protesters in Asan and Jincheon, cities about 80 km (50 miles) south of Seoul, the capital, used tractors to block access to facilities earmarked for quarantine centres.

In Asan, demonstrators threw eggs and shouted expletives when Chin Young, the minister of interior and safety, arrived to talk to them on Thursday. Police held up umbrellas as a shield.

“If it's so safe why don't you bring them to your home?” one protester shouted at Chin.

The minister said he sympathised with the concerns, saying the facilities were chosen as the only ones large enough to accommodate the evacuees.

“South Korean citizens in Wuhan are suffering... So we need to bring them in as soon as possible, right?” he said.