An outbreak of coronavirus in China separates families: Jeff Siddle from the UK is forced to leave his Chinese wife to take her 9-year-old daughter from the epicenter.

According to the BBC, Jeff, his wife and daughter went to Hubei Province to celebrate the Chinese New Year with relatives. It is in this province that the city of Wuhan is located - the epicenter of the outbreak. This is a large city where tens of thousands of foreigners live, work and study. Many countries began to evacuate their citizens from this city.

Jeff and his family were due to fly home on February 1, but their flight from Wuhan was canceled due to quarantine.

In the coming days, the UK plans to send a plane for its citizens, but Jeff found out only he and hid child could fly away: the fact is that the woman is not a UK citizen - she only has a residence permit.

Spouses had to decide: either the husband leaves with the child, or all three remain in China. They decided that it was better for Jeff to leave with the child.

"We'd have to have a nine-year-old child separated from her mother. Who knows how long that could be for My daughter's obviously been in floods of tears. She's absolutely devastated," Jeff said.