A TYNEDALE family who flew back from the city at the centre of the Coronavirus outbreak in China will celebrate the birthday of their daughter inside a quarantine facility.

Jeff Siddle, wife Sindy and nine-year-old daughter Jasmine, from Prudhoe, returned to the UK on Sunday, February 2, from a holiday with family near Wuhan and are now in quarantine at an NHS facility on the Wirral in Merseyside.

Jeff said this week that Jasmine, a pupil at Ovingham First School, would celebrate her 10th birthday in quarantine, and had not had any contact with other children while at the facility.

However, staff were planning on delivering a birthday cake to mark the special occasion, he said.

The family are among 93 people quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital, while a further 150 British arriving from China will be sent to another facility in Milton Keynes.

At the quarantine facility, Jeff said they were being treated well by staff, but were restricted in the time they spent outside. They must spend 14 days in quarantine while staff monitor their health.

All staff and people inside the facility must wear masks, while the family aren’t able to leave their designated accommodation on their floor, with security guards monitoring the area on a regular basis.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Health reported that a total of 1,758 people had been tested for Coronavirus in the UK, of whom 1,750 were confirmed negative and eight positive.