Brazil to declare emergency, quarantine people returning from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

FILE PHOTO: Employees wear masks as a precautionary measure to avoid contracting coronavirus as they work at Guarulhos International Airport in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, January 31, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Alarmed by the growing risks of a new coronavirus, Brazil has decided to repatriate Brazilians from Wuhan, China, and will declare a national health emergency, Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said on Monday.

A chartered plane would be sent to pick up 40 of the 55 Brazilians in Wuhan who have asked to be evacuated from the city at the center of a coronavirus outbreak, Mandetta said. They would be quarantined for 18 days at a military base, he said.