China's aviation authority has dispatched two Xiamen Airlines flights to bring back Wuhan citizens to the Chinese city from Bangkok in Thailand and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, it said on its website on Friday.
Wuhan, the epicentre of a fast-spreading virus that has claimed the lives of over 200 people, is in a virtual lockdown as authorities try to contain the spread.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.
This is an extreme designation — officially known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — and it means that the novel coronavirus is now considered “an extraordinary event that constitutes a public health concern to other states through the international spread of the disease” and will thus require a “co-ordinated international response”.
The only other situations of PHEIC designation was Ebola last year and in 2014, Zika in 2016, Polio in 2014 and Swine Flu in 2009.
This development means that the WHO director-general will make recommendations on how to control the spread of the virus, and will advise other countries on travel regulations and screenings of passengers at border posts and airports, for example, so that the international response is all on the same path.
Reuters
China sends two flights to bring back Wuhan citizens from Thailand and Malaysia
Image: Hector RETAMAL / AFP
China's aviation authority has dispatched two Xiamen Airlines flights to bring back Wuhan citizens to the Chinese city from Bangkok in Thailand and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, it said on its website on Friday.
Wuhan, the epicentre of a fast-spreading virus that has claimed the lives of over 200 people, is in a virtual lockdown as authorities try to contain the spread.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.
This is an extreme designation — officially known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — and it means that the novel coronavirus is now considered “an extraordinary event that constitutes a public health concern to other states through the international spread of the disease” and will thus require a “co-ordinated international response”.
The only other situations of PHEIC designation was Ebola last year and in 2014, Zika in 2016, Polio in 2014 and Swine Flu in 2009.
This development means that the WHO director-general will make recommendations on how to control the spread of the virus, and will advise other countries on travel regulations and screenings of passengers at border posts and airports, for example, so that the international response is all on the same path.
Reuters
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