UK delays evacuation flight from coronavirus epicentre in China

Britain had planned to fly back its citizens to a Royal Air Force base but the flight is now unlikely to take off on Thursday.

Britain has delayed a planned evacuation of its citizens from the coronavirus hit Chinese city of Wuhan because it has not yet got the correct permissions from Chinese authorities for a flight to leave.

Customers leave with boxes of newly purchased protective masks at a Bonjour Holdings Ltd. store in Hong Kong, China. (Bloomberg)

Britain had planned to fly back its citizens to a Royal Air Force base but the flight is now unlikely to take off on Thursday.

“We are doing everything we can to get British people in Wuhan safely back to the UK,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

“A number of countries’ flights have been unable to take off as planned. We continue working urgently to organise a flight to the UK as soon as possible.”