More French arrive home from virus-hit Wuhan, via UK

Thirty-five more French citizens on Sunday arrived home in France from China's virus stricken Wuhan, in a repatriation organised by the government which saw a stop in Britain, officials said.

Their flight landed at the Istres military base in the south of the country and they were immediately taken into a 14-day quarantine at an academy for the fire brigade in the nearby town of Aix-en-Provence, a base spokesperson told AFP.

This was the third repatriation by France of people fleeing China and the risk of infection by the coronavirus. Some 180 people landed in Istres on January 31 and then 120 on February 2.

This time the French took the initial leg of the journey on board a chartered civilian aircraft that arrived at the Brize Norton airbase in Oxfordshire, southern England.

Some 80 people are already in quarantine at the Aix-en-Provence centre.

The other 225 people taken back to France are at a holiday camp in Carry-le-Rouet west of Marseille.

All those in the French quarantine centres are being regularly tested for the coronavirus but so far no positive test has been recorded for the virus which has killed over 800 people in mainland China.

France has now detected a total of 11 cases of the novel coronavirus, including five British nationals who all stayed at the same ski chalet in the Alps.

The authorities have now carried out tests on around one hundred people who had contact with the British group to ensure no more contracted the virus.