British people travelling abroad have been told by the Foreign Office to return to the UK now if commercial flights are still available.

This advice was issued ahead of prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement yesterday that the UK would be put into lockdown effective immediately due to the coronavirus crisis.

In a statement, the FCO said: “International travel is becoming very limited as air routes close, land borders close and new restrictions are put in place that prevent flights from leaving.

“If you’re travelling abroad, you should:

1. contact your airline or travel company now

2. keep up-to-date with our travel advice pages. We are updating information on returning from the country you’re in as quickly as we can.”

The FCO added: “We are working with airlines to keep routes open, and calling for international action to keep routes open to enable British people can return home on commercial flights.

“We are also working around the clock to support those British travellers who are already finding difficulties to come back to the UK.”

This news comes at a time when many airlines are stopping flights and grounding fleets as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

British low-cost carriers EayJet and Ryanair have both announced that they will be grounding the majority of their fleet today (Tuesday 23 March) because of the growing numbers of travel restrictions across Europe due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Etihad Airways and Emirates announced yesterday that they would be temporarily suspending all flights to, from, and via Abu Dhabi following a directive from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to fight the spread of coronavirus.

Visit gov.uk for the latest coronavirus travel advice.