Coronavirus Starts Taking Big Toll on China Travel
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each said on Friday that they were suspending all service to mainland China as concerns about the coronavirus spread internationally, The New York Times reports.
American Airlines said that it was suspending all flights to and from China immediately through March 27.
Delta said it would suspend service as well, from early February through April 30. The last flight to China will leave the United States on Feb. 3, while the last one returning to the United States will leave China on Feb. 5.
Delta was the first American airline to completely suspend service to China because of the virus. United Airlines also reduced its service to the country this week.
Other Airlines Follow Suit
Airlines outside the United States are also clamping down on travel. In Rwanda and Kenya, RwandAir and Kenya Airways said they would cancel all flights to and from Guangzhou, the southern Chinese metropolis, until further notice. There have been no confirmed cases in Africa.
Poland’s national airline, LOT Polish Airlines, has suspended flights to China until Feb. 9, a deputy prime minister said on Twitter. More than a dozen people suspected of having the coronavirus are hospitalized in Poland, and over 500 people are being monitored by health services.
Iran has suspended all flights to China because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Reuters. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that all flights from China to the Islamic Republic have also been banned.
U.S. State Department Issues Travel Warning
The U.S. State Department on Thursday night issued a travel advisory telling Americans not to travel to China because of the public health threat posed by the dangerous new coronavirus. The department set the new advisory at Level 4, or red — its highest alert, reserved for the most perilous situations.
The article published by The New York Times on Friday indicates that “travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice,” the State Department said. “Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China.”
A spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Hua Chunying, struck back on Friday at the United States’ decision, calling it an unfriendly act at a difficult time for China.
“True feeling shines through in hardship,” Ms. Hua said. “Many countries have shown their support and help for China’s fight again the epidemic. By contrast, the United States’ words and deeds are not in keeping with the facts and less are they in keeping with friendship.”
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the outbreak a global emergency after cases were discovered in more than a dozen countries.
