Cindi Cook
03 February 2020•Update: 03 February 2020
PARIS
A chartered flight carrying 250 French and other European nationals landed Sunday in France from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The Airbus A380 landed at 2.30 p.m. local time (1430GMT) at the military base of Istres in the southern French region of Bouches-du-Rhone close to Marseille. The first French plane landed Friday.
Among the 30 nationalities on board, 65 are French, some of whom will be quarantined at the seaside resort of Carry-le-Rouet near Marseille. The rest will be quarantined at a firefighters’ training center near Aix-en-Provence.
Some 180 of those who returned Friday on the initial flight from Wuhan are already in quarantine in Carry-le-Rouet. The prefecture there issued a press release assuring that "at this stage, none of the people in confinement have any symptoms."
Others evacuated are traveling on to their home countries.
In a statement Sunday on Twitter, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab delivered a warm thanks to both France and China for bringing U.K. residents home.
"Seven British nationals and four foreign national family members are now back in the UK from Wuhan via France. Thank you France and China for working tirelessly with us to achieve this," he said.
The latest developments come after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a global health emergency Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO).
There are 23 reported cases of coronavirus in Europe, including six in France. Worldwide, 14,564 cases have been reported -- mostly in China -- and 305 deaths. The first death outside of mainland China occurred Sunday afternoon in the Philippines and involved a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan.
Germany has reported eight cases and Italy, Britain and Russia have each reported two. Finland, Spain and Sweden have each reported one case.
An inter-ministerial meeting is taking place Sunday evening with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe at Hotel de Matignon in Paris to determine the next steps.
