Foreign Office urge Brits not to travel to mainland China and ‘leave now’ after deadly Coronavirus outbreak
THE GOVERNMENT has warned against all but essential travel to mainland China amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The Foreign Office updated it’s travel advice in a bid to stop the fatal virus from spreading to the UK.
The Government has also warned Brits in China to consider leaving as soon as possible.
The Government warned: "The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to Hubei Province due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak. If you're in this area and able to leave, you should do so.
"The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China (not including Hong Kong and Macao)."
"The Chinese government continue to impose further restrictions on movement within China in response to the coronavirus outbreak. It may become harder over the coming weeks for those who wish to leave China to do so. If you feel that you may want to leave China soon, you should consider making plans to do so before any further restrictions may be imposed."
More than 100 people have died from the new strain of virus, which broke out in the central city of Wuhan after victims allegedly picked it up from a fresh food market.
The travel warning comes as all recent passengers arriving in the UK from Wuhan in China were ordered to "stay at home" - even if they feel well.
Any Brits evacuated from Wuhan, the centre of the deadly outbreak, in the coming days will also be asked to self-quarantine for at least two weeks.
Scientists warn there is evidence the virus can be transmitted even if the carrier has no symptoms, such as a fever or cough.
What is coronavirus?
Coronavirus is an airborne virus, spread in a similar way to colds and the flu.
The virus attacks the respiratory system, causing lung lesions.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
It is incredibly contagious and is spread through contact with anything the virus is on as well as infected breath, coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
In most cases, you won't know whether you have a coronavirus or a different cold-causing virus, such as rhinovirus.
But if a coronavirus infection spreads to the lower respiratory tract (your windpipe and your lungs), it can cause pneumonia, especially in older people, people with heart disease or people with weakened immune systems.
There is no vaccine for coronavirus.
In 2003 an outbreak of a similar virus, SARS, infected more than 8,000 people in 37 countries before it was brought under control, killing 800 of those worldwide.
Ministers want all 1,500 people who have flown in from Wuhan since mid-January to remain indoors and limit contact with others for at least a fortnight.
But officials admit only one in ten has so far been tracked down - making it harder to enforce the proposed lockdown.
Public health bosses were accused of wrongly telling carriers arriving from China that they didn't need testing for the flu-like illness.
England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said there was a "fair chance" cases would emerge in Britain as the overall number reported around the world climbed to about 2,744.
Last night, it emerged that suspected coronavirus carriers who have arrived from China in recent days were reportedly only tested if they had "the sniffles".
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Reports emerged after the Chinese government announced on Sunday that infected people can spread the virus for up to two weeks before showing any symptoms.
A senior NHS source told the newspaper that patients who called the 111 service had not been offered tests unless they showed signs of the virus.
They said: “Our specialists followed the official advice from Public Health England to the letter."
