Coronavirus: What will happen to the British people being quarantined?

It is understood the British passengers will be taken to an NHS facility on the Wirral to be quarantined for 14 days.

Dozens of British people who have arrived in the UK after being evacuated from Wuhan in China will be placed into quarantine for two weeks on Friday.

A Foreign Office-chartered plane carrying 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals landed at the Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire in the afternoon.

The British passengers left the base in coaches in a convoy with ambulances and a police escort.

It is understood the passengers will go to an NHS facility in Wirral for a 14-day quarantine.

On Friday afternoon staff at Arrowe Park Hospital were seen preparing to house those evacuated in two connecting accommodation blocks, as barriers were put up outside the building.

Staff at Arrowe Park Hospital prepare for buses carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China (Peter Byrne/PA)

Earlier on Friday, trolleys containing PlayStations, Xboxes and children’s toys, including toys for toddlers, were seen being wheeled into the premises.

Evacuation flight passengers – 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.

Coaches escorted by police — The coaches were escorted by police and ambulances as they left RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire (Andrew Matthews/PA)

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.

In a statement, Janelle Holmes, chief executive at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said staff working in the hospital would at no time have any contact with those in isolation.

She said: “All services within our hospital will continue to run as usual, including emergency services, outpatients and planned surgery. If you have an appointment, or a procedure planned at Arrowe Park, please attend as normal.”

Gaming consoles and toys being brought into the Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside (Peter Byrne/PA)

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

The quarantine period will give medics time to see if any of the group develop symptoms or test positive for the virus.

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.

An accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside which is preparing to receive a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China — An accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital which is preparing to receive the British nationals (Peter Byrne/PA)

The union’s regional officer Derek Jones said the union was “satisfied that this emergency is being dealt with in a professional manner” but added it would be monitoring the situation to ensure the welfare of NHS staff.