British citizens flown back from the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be quarantined for two weeks after they arrive in the UK tomorrow, it has been reported.
Officials are looking at taking passengers to a military base once they arrive home, the Department of Health said.
A flight was due to leave Wuhan in China on Thursday, but the Foreign Office later said this would be delayed. It is understood Chinese officials have not yet granted permission for the chartered flight to depart.
Before they board, passengers may be asked to sign a contract the plane saying they agree to being placed in quarantine.
Anyone who does not wish to sign could be asked to stay.
Around 200 British nationals are thought to be in the Chinese city.
A British lecturer stranded in Wuhan city, who described the streets as “deserted”, said UK officials have confirmed a flight will take citizens back to England, while others said this would be on Thursday.
A teacher whose grandmother is stuck in Wuhan told the PA news agency she had been offered a seat.
The latest development comes as British Airways announces it has suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect after the Foreign Office warned against “all but essential travel” to the country.
Virgin Atlantic said its flights between Heathrow and Shanghai will continue to operate as scheduled, although passengers are able to rebook or obtain a refund free of charge.
Nick House, a British national living in Wuhan with his Indonesian wife and two British children, told Sky News on Tuesday: “We would like to be out of here. The man on the other end of the phone said ‘Yes, you are on the list, but unfortunately your wife probably won’t be able to get on the plane because she doesn’t have a visa at the moment’.
“I won’t leave without my wife, so essentially the Government are leaving three British people here for the sake of one seat on a plane.”
The death toll in China has risen to 170, with confirmed infections surging to nearly 8,000.
Four cases have been confirmed in Germany, making it the second European country to report cases, after France.
The United Arab Emirates has also confirmed its first cases of the virus in a family who recently returned to the UAE from Wuhan.
The Department of Health and Social Care said 97 people in the UK have been given the all-clear for the virus, although scientists predict it may have entered the country.