Brits will be evacuated by airplane back to the UK from the Chinese city where the deadly coronavirus outbreak began before being quarantined for a fortnight in an NHS facility.
The evacuation flight to bring 150 Brits back will leave Wuhan City tonight and land Friday before passengers are then held in an NHS facility on the Wirral for a quarantine period of 14 days, the Foreign Secretary has said.
This comes as the first person-to-person spread of coronavirus in the United States has been confirmed in Illinois.
The flight is due to leave Wuhan city at 5am local time on Friday morning, which is 9pm on Thursday evening UK time.
The flight will land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire where UK nationals will disembark. Fifty foreigners - mainly from EU countries and thought to be Spanish - will also be on the evacuation flight which will head to Spain afterwards.
The death toll from the virus has hit 170 and the outbreak has spread to 15 other countries.
In a statement, Dominic Raab said: "We are pleased to have confirmation from the Chinese authorities that the evacuation flight from Wuhan airport to the UK can depart at 5am local time on Friday 31 January.
"The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority.
"Our Embassy in Beijing and consular teams remain in close contact with British nationals in the region to ensure they have the latest information they need."
Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that a patient in Illinois has contracted the virus after their wife from Chicago became the second confirmed case of coronavirus in the US.
The man, who is in his 60s, caught the virus after his wife brought it back from Wuhan.
He is in a good condition despite some existing medical conditions while his wife is still in quarantine at a hospital.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told CNBC: "This is a very serious public health situation.
"Moving forward, we can expect to see more cases, and more cases means more potential for person-to-person spread."
Speaking at a Policy Exchange event in Westminster earlier, Mr Raab said officials in the Foreign Office had "been working tirelessly" to get citizens out of Wuhan.
He added: "We've been working with the Department of Health flat out, 24/7, to try and make sure we can identify British nationals in Wuhan, get them to a muster point and get them to a flight, a chartered flight in and out."
The flight, which will have military medics on board, will land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Passengers will then be taken to an NHS facility - thought to be former NHS staff accommodation - on the Wirral for a quarantine period of 14 days.
The Liverpool Echo reported they would be taken to a former student accommodation block in the grounds of Arrowe Park Hospital.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Hospital, sent a message to staff on Thursday evening, saying: "Around 100 British citizens will be travelling to the UK from China tomorrow.
"We will be welcoming and housing them in the accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital.
"Before arrival they will be screened for symptoms. If anyone becomes unwell after arrival they will be treated following appropriate protocols."
It is understood passengers will have access to the internet and be able to make contact with family.
There, they will have access to medical staff, and it is understood they will have the internet and be able to make contact with family.
Fifty foreigners - mainly from EU countries - will also be on the evacuation flight which will head to Spain afterwards.
Officials have been working to secure a flight out of Wuhan for British nationals after one planned for Thursday failed to get clearance from Chinese authorities.
The Government anticipates flying out around 150 UK citizens who have been in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province.
Kharn Lambert, whose grandmother Veronica Theobald, 81, from Lancaster, is hoping to leave Wuhan, said he was waiting for a confirmation email with flight details.
"The situation is basically we won't go to the airport until we receive the confirmation email," he said.
Passengers say they have been told only to take hand luggage on the flight.
Jeff Siddle, from Northumberland, told the BBC his family faced a "terrible dilemma" after he and his nine-year-old daughter were told they could fly back - but not his Chinese wife, who has a permanent residency visa for the UK.
The Chinese government does not recognise dual nationality, and currently anyone with Chinese citizenship is not thought to be able to leave the affected area.
PA understands that the Foreign Office is working hard to ensure families are kept together and close relatives with dual citizenship can leave on the flight.
British nationals have been asked to make their own way to the airport, and it is understood the British Consulate has provided letters to help people in cars get past security checkpoints.
It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency committee could declare an international public health emergency during its meeting on Thursday.
The WHO has said the "whole world needs to be on alert" over the new coronavirus outbreak.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said on Wednesday that the decision to reconvene was due to the increasing number of cases and evidence of person-to-person transmission of the virus.
The number of cases of coronavirus has jumped to 7,711, with 170 deaths.
India confirmed its first case on Thursday, as did the Philippines.
In the UK, 161 people have tested negative for the virus as of Thursday.
Of 1,466 passengers and 95 staff who arrived in the UK from Wuhan between January 10 and 24, some 162 have already left the UK and 760 are now outside the 14-day incubation period for the virus.
Meanwhile, British Airways has extended its suspension of all flights to and from mainland China until Monday.
Virgin Atlantic flights between Heathrow and Shanghai are continuing to operate as scheduled.
Also on Thursday, an apartment-hotel in Yorkshire was put on lockdown after a man, believed to be a Chinese national, was taken to hospital after falling ill.
The man, who was a guest at the Staycity Hotel in the centre of York, was taken to hospital by medics on Wednesday night.
Paramedics wearing special protective clothing entered the hotel, near the city's Barbican theatre.
A spokeswoman for the firm said: "Staycity Group have confirmed that a man, believed to be a Chinese national, staying at the group's property in York was taken ill yesterday and is understood to be undergoing tests at a local hospital.
"Paramedics accompanied the man, along with his two travelling companions, out of the property at around 7.50pm last night.
"Following advice from Public Health England we have been advised that the risk is absolutely minimal and that nothing has been confirmed thus far.
"The health and safety of our guests and staff are paramount and as such the apartment containing the group's belongings has been sealed off, after which it will undergo a thorough environmental clean and disinfection, as is company policy."
