Two US evacuation flights with some 300 people on board have departed for the United States from China's virus-hit city of Wuhan, the Department of Defense said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2020) Two US evacuation flights with some 300 people on board have departed for the United States from China's virus-hit city of Wuhan, the Department of Defense said on Friday.
On Wednesday, two other planes carrying US evacuees from the coronavirus epicenter landed at an air force base in California.
"In support of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense is prepared to receive two Department of State chartered evacuation flights from Wuhan, China currently scheduled to arrive on February 7th," the Pentagon said.
According to the statement, the flights have left China for the United States with some 300 passengers on board.
"One of the aircraft will refuel at Travis Air Force Base and continue on to Omaha, Nebraska via Lackland Air Force Base. The other aircraft is en route to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar via Vancouver, Canada," the statement read.
All the individuals will be placed into quarantine for two weeks.
China first detected the novel strain of coronavirus in Wuhan in late December. It has since spread within China and to more than 20 countries, with 638 confirmed deaths worldwide and over 31,000 infected. Last week, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in light of the outbreak.
