A British teacher from West Wycombe who has lived in Wuhan for 10 years fears he could be spreading deadly coronavirus – because he was not tested when he flew home to the UK last week.

David Marland, who reportedly lives just minutes away from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, where it is believed the coronavirus was passed to humans, touched down at Gatwick Airport last week.

According to national reports, Mr Marland, 34, rang NHS 111 for advice after landing and was expecting to be called in for tests – but he still has not been.

After the maths teacher told the call taker that he didn't have “the sniffles", he was told to call back if he started feeling unwell.

Mr Marland now fears he has been given the wrong advice – and his family in West Wycombe have reportedly asked him to stay away amid fears he could be carrying the flu-like virus.

So far, coronavirus has killed more than 80 people in China and infected thousands more.

The teacher told The Telegraph he walked through the Wuhan market at the centre of the outbreak almost every day – and at least one person living the same apartment block as him has tested positive for the illness.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he said: "I'm potentially a risk to other people. I'm still within the two-week period so I could be spreading the disease everywhere without having any symptoms.

"I live five minutes from the Wuhan fish market. It's not a nice place, full of chickens and dead hedgehogs."

He said no one has given him any advice on what to do since he returned to Britain on January 17 – and accused the NHS 111 service of just “leaving the door open to this thing”.

It comes as Public Health England (PHE) acknowledged that the first UK case is likely to come from somebody already in the country.

Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director and director of health protection for PHE said in an interview with Sky News: "Our view is that, although airports are important, the most likely place that we might find a case is somebody in the country already, and it's absolutely critical that the public health service and the NHS are ready to diagnose that and are able to designate the person to the right facilities.

"That's the most likely scenario we are dealing with."

And asked if there could be cases already in Britain, she said: "I would expect so."

Prof Doyle said efforts were continuing to trace the 2,000 people who have entered the UK from China on international flights.