The plight of Britons trapped in China by the coronavirus has been plunged into confusion after they were urged to ‘get out’ – but ministers refused to say they will provide airlifts.
The city of Wuhan and the wider Hubei province have been in lockdown for days as the authorities try to contain the virus, which has so far killed at least 56 people.
The Foreign Office has issued fresh travel advice urging British citizens to leave if they can, but ministers refused – repeatedly – to confirm reports that emergency evacuations are planned.
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Priti Patel, the home secretary, said the government was “looking at all options”, while Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay declined four times to explain what would be done.
When he described it as a “fast moving situation”, the BBC’s Andrew Marr replied: “Well, they’re not fast moving, they’re stuck.”
The pressure on the government to act rose after the United States – following three confirmed infections in the country – announced it would evacuate its citizens from Wuhan on a charter flight on Monday.
After initially saying British citizens would be left in Wuhan, to avoid spreading the virus to the UK, there was an overnight U-turn after warnings that could amount to a death sentence.
Yvonne Griffiths, a university lecturer from Cardiff, told the BBC her hopes of flying home on Monday were in jeopardy, saying: “I am disappointed at the absolute silence on the issue of how stranded people are going to get home.
“And it seems maybe the British government at the moment has either a lack of concern or a lack of planning in place, I’m not sure.”
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Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world
AFP via Getty
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A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP/Getty
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People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS
Chinatopix via AP
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Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown
Getty
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Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far
AFP via Getty
6/65 An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers
China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans
AFP via Getty
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Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh
AFP via Getty Images
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Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan
EPA
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A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang
AFP via Getty
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Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
AFP via Getty Images
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Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
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Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon
AFP via Getty Images
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Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China’s central Jiangxi province
AFP via Getty
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Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. – China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
HECTOR RETAMAL
AFP via Getty
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Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan
EPA
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Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou
AFP via Getty
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Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
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A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel
EPA
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An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar
AFP via Getty
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Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
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An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
22/65 Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
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Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong
AFP via Getty
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Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
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A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
EPA
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A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing
AP
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Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
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A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan
AP
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Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
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Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
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A member of the Hong Kong government’s Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced
AFP via Getty Images
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Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan
STR/AFP via Getty
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A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
34/65 Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China
China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries
AFP via Getty
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A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan
EPA
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Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan
EPA
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Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
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A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus
AFP via Getty
39/65 Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
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Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China
AFP via Getty
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Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
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Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
43/65 A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
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A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
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Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
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Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
AP
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A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
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Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China’s northern Hebei province
AFP via Getty
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Medical staff and security personnel stop patients’ family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
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maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
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A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
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Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
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Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
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A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou
AFP via Getty Images
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A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
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Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
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Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
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An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul
EPA
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Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
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Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading “face masks are sold out” at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
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The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
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A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
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Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong
AP
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A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
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A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
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Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world
AFP via Getty
2/65
A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP/Getty
3/65
People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS
Chinatopix via AP
4/65
Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown
Getty
5/65
Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far
AFP via Getty
6/65 An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers
China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans
AFP via Getty
7/65
Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh
AFP via Getty Images
8/65
Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan
EPA
9/65
A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang
AFP via Getty
10/65
Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
AFP via Getty Images
11/65
Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
12/65
Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon
AFP via Getty Images
13/65
Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China’s central Jiangxi province
AFP via Getty
14/65
Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. – China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
HECTOR RETAMAL
AFP via Getty
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Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan
EPA
16/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou
AFP via Getty
17/65
Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
18/65
A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel
EPA
19/65
An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar
AFP via Getty
20/65
Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
21/65
An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
22/65 Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
23/65
Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong
AFP via Getty
24/65
Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
25/65
A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
EPA
26/65
A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing
AP
27/65
Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
28/65
A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan
AP
29/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
30/65
Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
31/65
A member of the Hong Kong government’s Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced
AFP via Getty Images
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Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan
STR/AFP via Getty
33/65
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
34/65 Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China
China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries
AFP via Getty
35/65
A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan
EPA
36/65
Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan
EPA
37/65
Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
38/65
A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus
AFP via Getty
39/65 Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
40/65
Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China
AFP via Getty
41/65
Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
42/65
Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
43/65 A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
44/65
A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
45/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
46/65
Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
AP
47/65
A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
48/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China’s northern Hebei province
AFP via Getty
49/65
Medical staff and security personnel stop patients’ family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
50/65
maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
51/65
A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
52/65
Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
53/65
Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
54/65
A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou
AFP via Getty Images
55/65
A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
56/65
Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
57/65
Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
58/65
An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul
EPA
59/65
Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
60/65
Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading “face masks are sold out” at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
61/65
The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
62/65
A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
63/65
Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong
AP
64/65
A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
65/65
A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
Sophie, also from the UK, said she and her British housemate Jason had “been stuck in the house for four days, adding: “We’re frustrated by the fact we don’t know what’s going on.
“It’s scary. We’ve heard the virus can stay in the system for two weeks without somebody showing signs they’re sick.”
The Foreign Office is believed to be examining the logistics for an airlift, but ministers played down the idea of rapid action on the Sunday morning political shows.
Asked by Sky News if evacuations were planned, Ms Patel said only: “It’s right that we look at all options and that’s exactly what the government is doing right now.”
Mr Barclay also ducked the issue, saying the government would “continue to monitor” the situation and keep the idea of airlifts “under review”.
In the UK, 31 people have been tested after suspicions they have contracted the virus, but all were found to be negative.
Officials are still trying to trace around 2,000 people who have flown to the UK from Wuhan in the past fortnight.
Mr Barclay denied the government was “bolting the stable door after the horse has left”, but acknowledged it was still “reaching out” to find those people.
