A hotel near Heathrow airport has been closed to the public and designated as a potential coronavirus quarantine centre as health officials prepare for more cases in the UK.
The Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel hotel, on Bath Road, closed on Saturday with staff told it would not re-open for bookings until March at the earliest.
Sources told The Independent the hotel has been block booked as a potential quarantine zone for international visitors to the UK who develop coronavirus or for Britons evacuated to the UK from overseas. Guests booked at the three star hotel, which is operated under franchise from the InterContinental Hotels Group, have been transferred to sister hotels.
The hotel’s general manager, who did not give his name, confirmed the hotel had been closed but he emphasised there had not been any cases of coronavirus at the hotel.
A spokesman for the IHG group told The Independent the hotel had been “block booked” and he could not comment further.
An NHS accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral and a hotel and conference centre at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes have already been used to quarantine people evacuated from Wuhan.
It comes as the UK is to decide whether to evacuate 74 Britons quarantined on the cruise liner, the Diamond Princess, moored in Japan, where 454 people have now tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
A spokesman for Prime Minister said the government was in contact with the British passengers to “gauge interest in a possible repatriation fight”. A Number 10 spokesman said: “We sympathise with all those caught up in this extremely difficult situation. “The Foreign Office is in contact with all British people on the Diamond Princess, including to establish interest in a possible repatriation flight.
“We are urgently considering all options to guarantee the health and safety of those on board.”
The USA has sent two planes to evacuate its citizens from the Diamond Princess with one landing at an air force base in California this morning.
The State Department said 14 of the evacuees had the virus but were allowed to board the flight because they did not have symptoms.
They were being isolated separately from other passengers on the flight, the US State and Health and Human Services said in a joint statement.
Nine people have tested positive for the virus in the UK, with only one remaining in hospital.
Source: The Independent
Read Today's News TODAY... on our Telegram Channel click here to join and receive all the latest updates t.me/thetimeskuwait
