“ People blamed me for bringing Covid here ” said the first evacuated in the United Kingdom

When Matt Raw was evacuated from Wuhan with a number of other British faced with the COVVI-19 exposure in 2020, he did not expect the virus to have “ramifications” that changed our way of living to date.

Five years after his trip and the fifteen subsequent forty in an installation behind the Arowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Matt said that there were “people still blaming it to have brought him to England”.

“Whenever I tell anyone who we were the first people repatriated from Wuhan, of course, the first joke is:” Oh, so you brought it here “.

Matt, as well as his mother and his wife Ying, was among the 83 British transported from the Raf Brize Norton, where their evacuation flight from Wuhan had landed in the United Kingdom.

A convoy of coaches, with the police escort, then moved the British repatriated to the isolation unit of the Arwe Park hospital.

They would later be joined by 11 other British nationals from Wuhan.

It was the first sight of the virus arriving in the United Kingdom, and the First quarantine unit in the United Kingdom since 1978.

For Matt and his family, the 180 -mile coach’s trip (290 km) was a “bizarre experience”.

“We brought the media to motorcycles, vans, all trying to have an overview inside and I have the feeling that maybe the windows were blackened but we sat there and we did sign.”

He told the BBC Radio Merseysis that they were seated at “at least five rows” of the driver, who had no protection against the face.

At the time, The Chinese city of Wuhan had been identified as the source of the virusBut he had not yet been appointed and no rule on masks or social distribution has been established in the United Kingdom.

Matt said the reason he decided to return to the United Kingdom was because he thought it was in the best interest of his mother to leave Wuhan and return to England.

He said that the situation was “completely new for everyone”, including Arrowe Park staff.

“The staff had been well informed, they made all possible plans to be able to try to meet all our needs when we arrived.”

Upon arrival, patients were greeted by a salvo of applause before being examined by doctors for existing drugs and others who may have been necessary.

The repatriated British were then transferred to a staff accommodation block, which had been completed behind the hospital, sharing apartments with municipal kitchens.

Matt, who has now returned to Wuhan, said that despite the fact that it became obvious that the government in England was not aware of locking as they were in China, he and his family took forty in ” their stride “.

He added: “If everyone had closed the borders at that time and if everyone had been quarantined to start, it might not happen. But who should know?”

Janelle Holmes, director general of Wirral University Teaching Hospital, said that the staff and partner organizations worked hard to create the quarantine site within 48 hours of the arrival of the guests.

“This was an extremely difficult operation, with exceptional work between health and social care partners to guarantee the safety of people in quarantine, site staff as well as hospital patients were maintained” , she said.

“We also learned this new disease which had not yet become COVID-10 and had not yet been declared pandemic.”

Gifts such as the cake, flowers, wine and toys were sent for those who are in quarantine.

After 14 days, the first patients left and another 32 British cohort of the Diamond Princess cruise lining was hosted on the site of the quarantine.

“Strict prevention and infection control measures were in place and all the guests left with a clean health record,” said Holmes.

“The response of all the organizations involved in the support of the guests was really exceptional and this near work has set up a partnership framework that continued in the pandemic.”