LONDON, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Monday advised its nationals traveling abroad to return home now, if commercial flights are still available.
The advice came as the number of COVID-19 cases in Britain continued to rise.
As of Monday morning, there had been 6,650 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK, an increase of 967 in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care. A total of 335 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died, the figures showed.
The FCO said if a British resident is traveling abroad, he or she should contact airline or travel company now and keep up-to-date with FCO's travel advice pages.
The FCO also said that it is working with airlines to keep routes open, and calling for international action to keep routes open to enable British people to return home on commercial flights.
The government has previously advised local people against all non-essential travel worldwide.
