'Front door opened okay, house hadn't blown down in the storms': Ex-Arrowe Park detainee, 38, laughs off 14-day coronavirus quarantine after returning home (but not before trip to the PUB)
by Joe Middleton For Mailonline- 83 Brits quarantined over coronavirus fears have now left Arrowe Park Hospital
- Officials confirmed all of the 83 Britons tested negative for the SARS-2 virus
- Mr Raw told Good Morning Britain that it was 'definitely good to be home'
- He added that he was taking the car for an MOT and then going shopping today
- Do you know any of the cases in the UK? Email connor.boyd@mailonline.co.uk
An ex-Arrowe Park detainee has laughed off his 14-day coronavirus quarantine after returning home - but not before grabbing a quick pint at the pub.
Yesterday the 83 Brits isolated in an NHS unit in Merseyside over coronavirus fears were released after testing negative for the deadly virus.
The group spent 14 days at Arrowe Park Hospital, in the Wirral, but have now tasted freedom, with the thrilled Brits pictured boarding trains at Liverpool's Lime Street Station.
Matt Raw was the first evacuee from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the centre of the escalating outbreak, and told Good Morning Britain he was happy to be home.
He said: 'I'm not sure I would call waking up to a camera in my living room a normal morning but its definitely good to be home.
The front door opened OK, the house hadn't blown down in the storms, the heating was on, the lights were working, so its good to be back.'
The programme replayed a clip of the 38-year-old, from Knutsford, Cheshire, as he punched the air and shouted 'we're free and the sun's shining' yesterday. And then a later clip of him taking a sip of beer at the pub.
Mr Raw was full of praise for staff at the hospital saying they were 'wonderful numerous times'.
He added: 'Today its back to normal, once we're done here I'm taking the car for its MOT, got to go and stock the house up with groceries again, so back to all the mundane things.'
Mr Raw was asked if he was ever concerned he had contracted the deadly virus.
He said: 'No not really, I've actually always every single morning since I was about ten years old, I wake up I cough, and half an hour later I'm absolutely fine.
'You put those thoughts to the back of your mind and you just get on with it. I actually had one of those little temperature guns. We had already been testing our temperatures regularly in Wuhan, we were quarantined ourselves at home.
'We were checking ourselves regularly, and we had the staff at the hospital checking us regularly so. With no rising temperatures we felt ok. We don't need to worry just yet.'
Health officials confirmed all of the group – who had signed a contract agreeing to be quarantined when they landed at RAF Brize Norton on Friday, January 31 – had tested negative for the killer SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock thanked the quarantined Britons for their 'bravery' and 'patience', admitting that it will not have been an 'easy time'.
On the situation in China, Mr Raw added: 'It is ultimately a desperately sad situation. Thousands of people have lost their lives.
'Tens of thousands of people have become infected by this virus. Not just in China as well its across the world.
'That said the Chinese authorities have jumped on this. To build six new hospitals three days a piece, I would just love to see the guys at Whitehall to send an email out to convene a meeting to discuss the building of a hospital in six days.
'They really do care for their people very very much and they are trying their best.'