LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Beijing’s ambassador to London on Thursday said Britain’s advice for its nationals to leave China because of the novel coronavirus outbreak was an unhelpful “overreaction” and urged the policy to be reversed.

Liu Xiaoming said Beijing had told the UK the move was not “a good idea” and instead called for a more measured approach.

On Tuesday the British Foreign Office advised UK nationals to leave China “if they can” to minimise their risk of exposure to the coronavirus, following similar advice by the United States.

“I hope the British government… will take an objective, cool-headed view of what is going on in China,” Liu said at a press conference at the Chinese embassy in London.

“We did tell them overreaction is not helpful. We don’t think there should be such a panic,” he added of the diplomatic measures.

“We should support each other, rather than to weaken the other’s efforts.”

Britain on Thursday confirmed its third case of the SARS-like virus which has so far killed at least 563 people and sparked global alarm as it spreads around the world.

Liu mounted a defence of China’s response to the epidemic, insisting it was “controllable, preventable and curable”.

He said London had vowed to follow the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its warning to British citizens there.

“We asked them to take (the) advice of (the) WHO to make a reasonable response, do not overreact.

“It seems to me the facts are not entirely squared, the words do not match with the deeds,” he added.