To think we shouldn't be bringing brits back from China

[MozzchopsThirty]

I see the US are rescuing their citizens.
How does this work?
Do they quarantine the plane, crew & passengers

Surely this just creates more risk

IMHO lockdown should mean lockdown

For the same reason we house refugees escaping from war zones?

It's nowhere near as dangerous as being in a war zone is it. So far it only seems dangerous the elderly and ill. They should certainly bring anyone who might be vulnerable back but I'm not sure that there is an urgent need for young healthy people to leave.

If her medication is starting to run out then is that because she didn't take enough with her? That's down to her to manage and not the government if that is the case

If she can get enough extra prescribed.
If the medication has a long enough shelf life.

Some people lead very sheltered and selfish lives.

Rather than denying the vote to UK citizens and passport holders overseas, maybe we should instead withhold the franchise from those within the UK who fail a basic empathy test?

The risk from people who are evacuated on military planes, known to the authorities and throughly screened is far, far smaller than from e.g. someone flying in from an unaffected part of China who has recently had close contact with a relative from Wuhan (4m of whom left the area before the lockdown was imposed according to their Mayor).

You are being ridiculous OP.

Of course we should be bringing people back. It lessons the risk than some random person coming back with no screening/ isolation.

I am sure that if your family was there ,you would bring them back! What about people who work abroad then? Should they be separated from their families for good! Many husbands work abroad and DW/DC are at home .What an incredibly selfish viewpoint ! As above posters said they will be quarantined for sure and given medical checks .

The foreign office should certainly help an old person who is running out of medication. The response to that is not a mass evacuation. It is to help her get a supply or to aid her return. The distraction of a mass evacuation would probably put her more at risk.

When I read about the British granny with respiratory health issues running out of medication, my first thought was WTF is she doing going on holiday to the country that churns out most of the respiratory killer viruses and the country with very poor medical facilities and one with some of the worst city pollution in the world? Seriously, I’ve been to these places and I wouldn’t take my kids there, let alone go with a health problem.

If they’re brought back, quarantine should be compulsory, not just ask them to stay at home for two weeks

This has just been discussed on Jeremy Vine. It is actually the most effective way of putting people in quarantine. What you don't want is for them to be mixing with medical staff, hospital environments, or anywhere where there are a lot of people. When/if they come back, they will be monitored at home.

shall I start a new concern for you op? We import a lot of stuff from China - including some food, spices etc what about the people who package them - could they contaminate that!

If the lady is only starting to run out of meds now, she probably did have extra with her. If they’re on prescription there’s only so much they will give you at once.

If you are just asking people to stay indoors for 2 weeks does that mean all the family have to stay indoors.

Will the families who have people over in China ok with the fact that their loved ones might be infected and they are then cooped up in doors with this family member.

From my understanding what would happen is the family will be able to come and go as they please and could end up being the ones who spread the virus.

Get them out of China but quarantine them and the flight crew for the 2 weeks in a proper facility.

don’t understand why we worry so much about what the 300 or so Brits will bring back but still have multiple daily flights from China.
Exactly! The British government IMO is being somewhat reckless in allowing flights from China to continue at this specific time. Money talks, though. But given that is the case of course you cannot refuse reentry to British citizens!

I think we should bring back our nationals, put them in quarentine and test them all, but stop all other flights from China.

What exactly do you think people infected with this flu are going to do? Fly around Surrey at night in broad daylight, preying on unsuspecting Mumsnetters?

It's a virus. It'll get out. The world will keep plodding on.

The old lady has COPD. They can't get her anymore drugs because they're using them for the patients with the Corona virus and stocks are running short.

It's too late to be concerned about people entering this country with it. It's got a 14 day incubation period so there's already a chance people are here with it.

Presumably the flights are coming from other parts of China that weren’t in lockdown? So less risk, although I think someone in Beijing has now died.

don’t understand why we worry so much about what the 300 or so Brits will bring back but still have multiple daily flights from China.

Not from the Wuhan region though (I hope not anyway).

True, but we had flights from Wuhan even after the virus started spreading and it seems a big part of China is now affected.

We should have acted sooner and stopped all flights from there, but we didn’t.

I actually agree with you OP, although if I had a relative in China I'm sure I would have mixed feelings. If they will be in quarantine for two weeks, will all of the flight crew, airport staff etc have to be too - how will this work practically? If you are in a city in lockdown then unfortunately you should stay there until lockdown is lifted, no matter who you are/where you are from.

What exactly would monitoring them at home involve?

Where have you seen the UK government's plans to evacuate its citizens from China?

I appreciate that people involved might feel differently, buty I can't help feeling a quarantine is a quarantine. If it is to be effective then you can't say "We are going to quarantine most people, but if you are European, or American, it doesn't apply to you". Makes the whole point of a quarantine pointless.

@woodchuck99 my comment about war zones wasn't related to this virus, it was related to the "they choose to work there so should stay there when the going gets rough" suggestion

They should bring people home safely and quarantine them on arrival. The area in China that is being cut off will become very dangerous, not from the virus but from being cut off and I assume lack of resources.

I think also it could be a lot worse than we think. I don't remember all these actions being taken with the sars outbreak but I might be wrong.

Surely it makes more sense to keep the possibly infected people in one place? Yes that would be awful if you were there on holiday etc and intending to leave, but the millions in other countries should not be subjected to such risks. It doesn't really matter though as thousands of Chinese people have apparently been flying to various countries since the outbreak began, and I would think very few will self quarantine or even go for testing.