UK's Virgin Atlantic Extends Suspension of London-Shanghai Flights Until March 28

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2020) The United Kingdom's Virgin Atlantic airline said on Thursday that it had extended the suspension of daily flights from London to Shanghai until March 28 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

In January, the company suspended all London-Shanghai flights starting on February 2. Two days later, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) updated its travel advice for China, recommending its citizens to leave the country if possible.

"Given this new FCO advice, the increasing entry restrictions on recent visitors to mainland China, and our rigorous focus on safety, Virgin Atlantic has opted to extend the suspension of Heathrow-Shanghai operations until 28 March 2020," the airline's spokesman said, as quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

Currently, only three airlines � Air China, China Eastern and China Southern � fly between the United Kingdom and China.

On December 31, the Chinese authorities reported to the World Health Organization an outbreak of pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, which was later discovered to have been caused by a new strain of coronavirus, designated as 2019-nCoV. Following the announcement, multiple airlines suspended their flights to the country to avoid spreading the virus around the globe.