Wirral West MP Margaret Greenwood gives update on coronavirus plan

Margaret Greenwood, MP for Wirral West, spoke to the Globe and other reporters in the hospital grounds, close to the building where the group of individuals will be housed for two weeks.

The move has sparked a strong mixed reaction from the Wirral public, with a number of residents concerned about visiting the hospital or family members who are already patients at Arrowe Park, but the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions moved swiftly to alley any fears.

She said: "I spoke to the Secretary of State yesterday, who assured me that the Department for Health does not anticipate that any of the people coming here will have the virus.

"I met with the Chief Executive of the hospital this morning to put some questions to her that people have put to me, things that residents are concerned about.

A baby bath is brought into the accommodation block

"People are concerned about the possibility of cross-contamination with the hospital. She said to me that the operation of running the accommodation unit is seperate to the hospital.

"The personnel will be separate - it's not the same staff as the hospital. The people who will be working in the accommodation will be sourced separately. They may come from the local area but that's being managed by Public Health England, who have a lot of experience in dealing with this type of situation.

"I also asked her, can people come to the hospital as normal? She said absolutely, it's business as usual. People shouldn't be missing appointments. They should be coming to visit friends and relatives in the hospital."

The quarantine has attracted large national press attention

When asked why Arrowe Park was chosen as the location to hold the quarantine operation, she said: "As I understand it, there were four or five hospitals in the running to have this take place. Arrowe Park ticked all of the boxes essentially.

"One of the things is that it's not in a city centre - that was important. The fact that the accommodation block is also separate to the hospital was also important and then also the proximity to Liverpool, where you've got the Royal Liverpool Hospital and also the School of Tropical Medicine. They have a lot of expertise that is particularly relevant to this virus.

"We're concerned that the people coming back to the UK are British citizens. They must get the help that they need, should they need it. Hopefully they won't need it.

"It's a quarantine situation, they'll be here for 14 days and hopefully everything will be fine. 

"But we have to take precautions to make sure that if there was to be anyone who had the virus that they can be properly looked after and kept away from anywhere that they could contaminate anyone else."