Desperate to get TO Wuhan: Chinese flights full of locals land back in virus lockdown zone where people are queuing for two days to see a doctor
- 73 people arrived on the specially-chartered flight from Bangkok, Thailand
- Many of the passengers, wearing masks, smiled and waved at photographers
- The Wuhan province is in lockdown to help slowdown the spread of the virus
- Health officials in protective clothing greeted the new arrivals back home
China has flown two planeloads of its citizens back home to Hubei, the locked-down province at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak where they were greeted by authorities in full-body protective suits.
A Xiamen Airlines charter flight from Bangkok touched down late Friday in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the infection is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals.
Health authorities in white, full-body protective gear stood by the cabin door as the plane’s 73 passengers disembarked, smiling through face masks and waving to news photographers.
Health officials wearing full protective clothing greeted passengers arriving on a Xiamen Airlines flight from Thailand to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
The Chinese residents were evacuated from Thailand on a specially chartered jet
The people on board the charter flight arrived in an area which has been locked down by Chinese authorities in an effort to prevent a further spread of the Coronavirus
A second Xiamen flight landed soon afterwards carrying Hubei residents from Kota Kinabalu, a popular coastal tourist destination in Malaysia.
China’s foreign ministry said earlier on Friday that the country would bring Wuhan residents back from overseas ‘as soon as possible’ due to ‘the practical difficulties that Chinese citizens from Hubei, especially Wuhan, have faced overseas’.
The move came after a more than 30 airlines worldwide announced they were halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of the epidemic.
China’s aviation agency had said there were 117 nationals from Hubei province in Bangkok and 100 in Kota Kinabalu who are ‘willing to take the chartered flights back to Wuhan as soon as possible’.
More than 30 airlines worldwide announced they were halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of the epidemic
This woman seems to be happy that she has returned home – despite the threat posed by the virus
This couple gave waiting photographers a ‘thumbs up’ having returned from Bangkok
This was despite the fact that Wuhan and surrounding cities have been locked down by authorities for more than a week, effectively trapping more than 50 million people in their homes after a near-blanket transport ban.
Nearly all of the 259 people killed in the outbreak so far were in Hubei.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed in Wuhan. AFP reporters saw long queues, with some patients saying they lined up for two days to see a doctor.
The charter flights prompted a flurry of discussion on Chinese social media.
‘These people probably don’t want to go back,’ said one, while another questioned if residents should be returned to Hubei if they were not infected.
China has advised its citizens to postpone trips abroad and cancelled overseas group tours
Several other countries have advised against all travel to China because of the threat involved
China has advised its citizens to postpone trips abroad and cancelled overseas group tours.
Several countries including the United States, Germany, Britain and Japan have urged their citizens to avoid travel there.
The US has also declared a national emergency, temporarily barring entry to foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks.
Neighbouring Myanmar turned a plane back to China on Friday with most passengers still on board – including French and American citizens – after one man suspected of contracting the coronavirus was taken to hospital.
The US has also declared a national emergency, temporarily barring entry to foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks