World

US to Evacuate Consulate Staff, Some US Citizens from Wuhan Amid Coronavirus Outbreak - Reports

The United States State Department said it will relocate personnel at its Wuhan consulate to the US and will offer a limited number of seats to private US citizens on a flight out of the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Sputnik

According to an email statement, the US State Department said on Sunday that some private US citizens will be able to board a flight leaving Wuhan on 28 January bound for San Francisco, Reuters reported.

The statement added that private individuals at greater risk of catching the coronavirus will be given priority.

Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier urged the Communist Party Central Committee to centralise their efforts to counter the accelerating spread of the new coronavirus.

According to the Chinese health authorities, there are currently over 1,970 confirmed coronavirus cases in China, while the death toll stands at 56.

The new strain of coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled 2019-nCoV, has already been registered in Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, Nepal, France, the United States, and Australia. The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto said on Saturday that one of its patients had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Discuss