A NEWLYWED from Poole was among the 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals to be repatriated from the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Ben Williams, who had been in Wuhan getting married and on honeymoon, said he had to leave his new Chinese wife behind after being given short notice to get to the plane, which landed at Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire on Friday.

He told the BBC that there had been delays in getting paperwork and mistakes in communication between embassies.

He said: "By the time we got out the door it was very much a close call to get to the meeting point to get on this flight and sadly my wife has nothing prepared and it wasn't right for her to enter the UK with essentially nothing."

Speaking from the plane after it touched down, he said: "We'll leave the plane one-by-one or in families, for a full health screening and I believe just get on a coach to our final destination for our extended vacation."

Mr Williams said the UK Government had been shown to be a "bit green around the gills" in its response to the virus outbreak, but added: "You've got to learn from somewhere... they'll improve it in the future."

Asked about the mood on the flight he told the BBC: "It's quite mellow to be honest. Everyone's got quite used to wearing face masks and trying their best to do deep cleans."

The newlywed said he hoped he and his wife would be reunited in less than "a few months" and said they had been in a long-distance relationship between the UK and Brazil for the last two years so "a couple of months is nothing".

He added: "They did tell us very last minute that she would be allowed on the flight but by the time they told us we had nothing arranged."

Passengers said they were given as little as 90 minutes' notice to reach the locked down city's airport to make the Foreign Office-chartered flight, which returned with 83 Britons and 27 foreign nationals, hours after two cases of the deadly virus were confirmed in England.

Some Britons had declined to join the repatriation flight after being told any Chinese nationals in their family would be unable to join.

But that decision was reversed before the plane departed leaving it too late for some to make it to the airport.

The UK passengers are being taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral for a quarantine period of 14 days, where they will be housed in an NHS staff accommodation block with access to the internet.

They are being given fully-furnished rooms, food, laundry facilities and have access to a team of medical staff who will closely monitor their condition.

Kitchens are available for those who wish to self-cater, and families are being kept together, with games consoles, toys and cots provided.

Ministers said the Government will send another plane to coronavirus-hit Wuhan to rescue British citizens if needed.