Inside the UK Coronavirus quarantine centre on the Wirral

A British evacuee from coronavirus-hit Wuhan last night shared an image from inside quarantine as he and 82 others spent their first night locked in a nurses’ accommodation block in the Wirral. 

Ben Kavanagh is part of a group flown in from China over the coronavirus outbreak who will be holed up in the block at the side of Arrowe Park Hospital for 14 days. 

Their accommodation was on Friday kitted out with bedding, games consoles and Barbies ahead of their 14 days in quarantine. 

The group were driven to the NHS staff accommodation blocks at the side of Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral just after 7.15pm after travelling 180 miles from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. 

Mr Kavanagh shared a picture of himself wearing a mask to Instagram with the caption: ‘We are all now safe in quarantine. Everyone has been fantastic, the airline, the stewards/stewardesses, the bus drivers, the NHS. Been travelling for 40 hours. I am mostly grease at this point. I will try to reply to everyone’s kind messages tomorrow.’ 

It comes as the first cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in the UK, with two people – believed to be Chinese nationals – from the same family being treated by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in its specialist Airborne High Consequences Infectious Disease Centre (HCID).

Officials are trying to trace 438 other air passengers who’ve recently arrived from Wuhan as medics in hazmat suits were seen entering the York hotel where the two people with confirmed cases were staying. 

The coronavirus, which has infected nearly 12,000 people and killed 259 – all in China – is known to spread easily through coughs and sneezes and close contact, and people may be contagious even if they feel well. 

The five coaches – carrying the 83 Britons who were on board the Wamos Air Boeing 747 on Friday – were escorted into the Merseyside hospital by five police officers on motorbikes. 

Three ambulances were also in the convoy as well as two police cars. They were taken by drivers without protective masks, raising fears for their safety.

Coach drivers who took those evacuated from Wuhan to their quarantine location on the Wirral will also spend 14 days in isolation themselves. 

They were asked to drive those brought back from China without any masks or specialist clothing – and will now take a period of paid leave away from others.

A spokesman for Horseman Coaches said their staff had been reassured by Government officials that they did not need to wear masks for the 180-mile journey because passengers had been quarantined for eight days in China and only allowed on the flight because they were clear of any symptoms.

However, the Department of Health rubbished the eight-day claim and said no protective gear was required because the risk to drivers was ‘very low.’

Their vehicles will also be deep-cleaned before being allowed back into service in a fortnight. 

The plane will later fly on to Spain carrying the remaining 27 passengers – all non-UK nationals. 

The British passengers on the evacuation flight – who have mainly been in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province – had to sign a contract agreeing to isolation before they could board the flight, and underwent temperature checks.  

The Mail understands that the pilot and crew on the flight from Wuhan province were also not instructed to wear masks and it was unclear whether they had also been told to self-quarantine.

The Ministry of Defence insisted that all Government employees and military personnel who had come into close contact with passengers would be put into supported isolation.

The Department of Health also explained that each of the seven coaches had one medic – dressed in specialist protective gear – onboard in the unlikely event any passengers developed symptoms during the journey.

Passengers on the flight revealed crew had tried to keep them at least 6ft from each other to avoid cross-contamination.

But some evacuees were seen shaking hands with staff on the tarmac at Brize Norton. 

They are being isolated for two weeks because this is the maximum time it is thought to take for symptoms to emerge if a person has been infected.

There has been speculation over whether the virus can be transmitted by people showing no symptoms.

Patrick Graham, who was onboard the flight that arrived yesterday, shared footage of the plane touching down and joked with his social media followers: ‘The infected are coming.’ He also shared a screenshot of a report detailing confirmation of the UK’s first two cases of the virus and wrote: ‘Please don’t blame us … we have only just landed.’

Passengers on the flight were served chicken tikka masala.

Matt 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.

When the Chinese authorities eased the restrictions, Mr Raw was able to travel with his wife and 75-year-old mother, Hazel. He said the trip was like any normal plane journey.

He said: ‘It’s maybe not the best quality aeroplane food that I’ve had, but certainly this is probably one of the best meals of my life – we’re on our way home.’

Speaking to ITV before take-off, he said: ‘It is proving to be a really, really taxing job to get all the passengers on board. They are struggling with… we don’t have names, we have numbers. So they are trying to correspond the names to the numbers, the ticket numbers, to get everybody on board and in the right seat.’

Other passengers described the chaos of getting to the airport at short notice and being forced to leave loved ones behind.

Speaking to the BBC after the flight touched down, newlywed Ben Williams, whose Chinese wife had stayed behind, said: ‘We are just happy to get on a coach to our final destination for an extended vacation.’

Referring to the 14-day quarantine, he added: ‘I think I’ll be all right. As long as I can get some exercise. It’s good to be back, but I also miss China as well. Sadly we came to the decision for her [my new wife] to stay behind because of the short notice they gave us for the flight. They did tell us very much last-minute that she would be allowed on the flight but by the time they told us, we had nothing arranged.

‘Hopefully, it’s less than a few months [before I see her again] but we’ve been in a long distance relationship from the UK to Brazil for the last two years so a couple of months is nothing.’

He continued: ‘Everyone is trying their best to keep clean and ensure the wellbeing of everyone around them. I was in self-isolation in China. With a Chinese family, enjoying Chinese New Year indoors, watching TV. Enjoying sunshine on the roof of the apartment. 

Financial Times journalist Tom Hancock was also on the flight. Writing in this morning’s newspaper he spoke of how ages ranged from a three-month-old baby to an 81-year-old woman on the flight.

He also revealed that an unaccompanied three-year-old girl who had been staying with her grandparents in Wuhan while her parents were in the UK was on the flight. She was cared for on the flight by staff from the foreign office. 

Among those on the flight was Emma Wang, a Chinese natinal travelling with her British partner and their baby. Her partner, Michael Martin, said ahead of getting on the fight: ‘I thought I’d feel excited by I’m more just tired’. 

While Dani Carmona, a Spaniard who had been working as a football coach and had to leave his girlfriend behind, said: ‘It was a difficult decision. I will come back to Wuhan as soon as I can’. 

Yesterday, trolleys containing PlayStations, Xboxes and children’s toys such as Barbie doll sets were seen being wheeled into their quarantined area.

Some of the toys were aged one to three years, suggesting families with small children may be kept in isolation. 

It is understood that those quarantined will be given fully-furnished rooms, food and laundry facilities, while kitchens are available if people wish to self cater.

Any families will be able to stay together and there will be no charge for the accommodation.

A team of medical staff, who will wear protective suits, will closely monitor their condition.

Anyone with suspicious symptoms will be taken to the nearby Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospital, which has a high-level infectious diseases unit.

Some people living on the Wirral took to social media to express their concerns at the move, calling it a ‘bizarre’ move and an ‘absolute joke’. 

It comes after doctors and nurses were given two days’ notice to move from the accommodation block to make way for the quarantined Britons. The staff were seen packing bedding, clothes and pots and pans in cars and vans.

Hospital workers said yesterday they were ‘scared’ over the Britons from China being quarantined at the hospital. One nurse told MailOnline: ‘This was just dumped on us.

‘We haven’t been fitted for masks – I’m not even sure how many we have. Everyone’s a bit scared especially as there’s now been cases in Britain.

‘They are asking us to put ourselves in harm’s way. The hospital couldn’t cope if there was an outbreak. We are creaking as it is.’ 

David, 54, a plumber who was helping prepare the building and works for North West Engineering, said: ‘We have been sent up here to prepare some rooms.

‘We are preparing so to make sure that the rooms have hot and cold water. We are doing the plumbing. I didn’t know I had to be here until today. It’s all a bit lastminute.com.’ 

One doctor told Mailonline: ‘Most people are angry that they’re being brought here. Why do we have to deal with it out of all the hospitals in the country?

‘We have a big maternity unit and care for a lot of sick children. We struggle at the best of times. One hospital porter has told me he’s going to refuse to take things over to the blocks.’ 

Tom Holmes, 56, who was visiting his sick sister, said: ‘I was a bit nervous coming here. My sister just wants to get out of here before all the coronavirus people get here. I wouldn’t want her still here if any of them get sick.’

Mother-of-two Melissa Bridge, 23, said: ‘I live nearby the hospital. I’m really worried the virus could be brought here. I’m scared for my children.

‘Why have they brought them here? It’s not exactly in an isolated spot. They just want to dump them on Merseyside.’

Irene Morley, 72, retired, visiting the hospital for a checkup, said: ‘I don’t think they should have it in Arrowe Park because of the maternity unit in the hospital.

‘They should have gone to another hospital like the Victoria Central Health Centre in Wallasey. They’ve got a hospital there which is a lot more remote, people don’t go down there.

‘It’s completely wrong they’ve been brought here. There’s a sliding door in the physiotherapy ward which opens onto the block. There’s people going in and out without washing their hands and staff smoking outside.

‘It’s appalling. They could’ve put them somewhere else. Other countries are putting the quarantined people miles away. We only found out yesterday. They kept it all undercover so people don’t kick off.

‘You can’t people inside for two weeks. Where are they going to go when they go outside? I think it’s wrong. They are keeping us in the dark. They are putting us at risk.’

Jane Godman, from the Wirral, wrote on Twitter, ‘Decision to have a coronavirus quarantine centre at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral is bizarre.

‘One of the busiest hospitals in the North West, with a maternity unit, in a built up area, 170 miles from where the Wuhan plane lands. Who decided this and why?’

Phillip Cunnington, from nearby Newton-le-Willows in Lancashire, tweeted his reaction to a Sky News tweet saying the evacuees were being taken to the Wirral.

He said: ‘Oh great, Wirral’s in the news, you don’t often see that, so often overshadowed by Liverpool, it’d be great to see it get some positive pub… Oh.’

Amanda Jelley, from West Kirby on the Wirral, added: ‘Why are the 150 people being isolated at Arrowe Park Hospital, 187 miles from Brize Norton. 

‘Arrowe Park Hospital is on a small peninsular so is that the choice to try and contain the virus? Being from the Wirral I am furious at this decision.’

The British passengers – who have mainly been in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province – will be housed in an NHS staff accommodation block.

The road outside the accommodation blocks that will house the coronavirus victims once they have returned was clogged with removal vans this morning.

One van was unloading boxes of Hitachi products onto the street, while one worker said he was moving duvets out of the block to a site in St Helens.

A man leaving with a camping rucksack and two holdalls said he had been living in the blocks while working at the hospital until yesterday when he was told to leave.

He said: ‘I’m evacuating the block. I got told to move yesterday. I’ve been told not to speak.’

Dennis Nelson, 76, who was just leaving the walk-in centre with his son said he wasn’t worried about the quarantined people staying at the hospital.

‘They have got great facilities here and in Liverpool which is only a 30 minute drive. There’s the centre for tropical medicine if anything goes wrong.’

Barbara Patterson, 72, who is retired and was visiting the hospital for chemotherapy, said: ‘I’ve been thinking how awful it must be to be cooped up in here.’ 

Terry Haynes, 34, a chef who was visiting his grandmother, added: ‘As long as they don’t come in the hospital it’s OK. They go to the Royal in Liverpool if they’re ill. I’m a bit worried.

‘It’s strange why they’re coming here. I guess it’s because it’s a peninsula. They can close the Wirral off. They can close the tunnel and the bridge if everyone gets infected.’

And Flo Garbett, 86, added: ‘Well they’ve got to go somewhere but I don’t know why here. They will get the right treatment I guess. At least they’re near the Tropical Medicine School. It’s one of the best in the country.’

A 21-year-old student from Keele University, who was at Arrowe Park for an appointment with a consultant, said: ‘I’m not really concerned about it.

‘It’s just what the hospital does which is the issue. It’s how it tries to control infections like the Norovirus. 

‘Every time it has a Norovirus outbreak, it does not seem to contain it very well. It should be fine though because the blocks are quite separate.’

Maureen Fenton, 49, a housewife who was visited her daughter in labour, said: ‘I wasn’t worried but it seems to be spreading which is concerning.’

And David Murray, 52, who is unemployed, said: ‘I heard about it on the news. I was worried about getting it. I was just thinking – will I get it?’

Asked whether she was informed of the decision, Labour MP for Wirral South Alison McGovern tweeted: ‘No. No one has informed me. Awaiting a call.

‘Will be asking Department for Health to make sure that those being brought to Wirral be made as comfortable as possible.

‘Know my constituents will feel for them and will back our brilliant NHS staff to do everything necessary to help.’

Another person asked: ‘What did The Wirral do to deserve this?’ A further tweet said: ‘This is very worrying and will cause panic in the Liverpool area.’

A Wirral Council spokesman said: ‘A flight has been arranged to bring British nationals back to the UK and will land back in the UK later today.

‘Those on board will be housed, temporarily, in the accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital. This is a separate building and is not a hospital ward.

‘All services in the hospital are running as usual including emergency services, outpatients and planned surgery. Staff working in the hospital will not be in contact with these UK citizens.

As the local council, we are supporting the Department of Health and NHS in any way we can.

‘We understand this is a stressful time for the people on the flight, but also their families. After a very long journey, we welcome them to our borough and trust they will be comfortable during their time here.’ 

Authorities in the UK yesterday launched a nation-wide hunt for anyone who came into contact with the UK’s first two patients.

The pair, believed to be Chinese nationals, had been staying at  the £49-a-night Staycity hotel in York which has remained open since a man fell ill there on Wednesday night and rooms can still be booked for tonight.

The Department of Health has repeatedly refused to give any details about the two coronavirus victims, citing ‘patient confidentially’, and have also knocked back questions about where and when they entered Britain and where they have been before arriving in York.

York’s rich history makes it a hugely popular stop for visitors on tours of Britain and Europe. 

A Public Health England spokesperson said: ‘The design of the accommodation means that there is minimal interaction between guests and, following a risk assessment by our experts, closing the accommodation was not necessary. 

‘Appropriate infection and prevention control measures are being implemented.’

MailOnline understands the infected people – quarantine at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne – were taken from the Staycity hotel and have never returned or collected their belongings including suitcases, clothing and toiletries, which remain sealed in their room.