China has delayed an evacuation flight out of Wuhan that would have brought 200 Brits back home.

The passengers instead remain stranded in the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, with the plane no longer set to leave tomorrow.

Chinese officials have reportedly not yet granted permission for the chartered flight to depart.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are doing everything we can to get British people in Wuhan safely back to the UK.

"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.

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"We remain in close contact with the Chinese authorities and conversations are ongoing at all levels."

Britons returning from Wuhan will be put in quarantine for 14 days.

Officials are looking at taking passengers to a military base once they arrive home, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.

Japan and the US have already airlifted hundreds of their own citizens from the city – with the death toll now at 132.

Confirmed cases of the virus rose to more than 6,000 today, overtaking the 5,327 confirmed cases of SARS during the 2002-2003 outbreak which killed more than 750 people.

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The whole world must be ready to deal with the virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

Its members will meet for crisis talks tomorrow to decide whether to declare it a public health emergency.

Just 68 cases have been confirmed outside China, in 15 countries.

However, in Germany, Vietnam and Japan, there has been human-to-human transmission – speaking fears over the virus’ spread.

• China
• Coronavirus

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