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Russia to send evacuation planes to China’s Hubei on February 3

03 February 2020 13:42 (UTC +04:00)

Russia will send the Aerospace Forces’ planes, tasked with evacuating 130 Russian nationals, to the Chinese city of Wuhan on February 3, Deputy Prime Minister and coronavirus prevention HQ head Tatiana Golikova said during the operational meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, APA reports citing TASS.

"We’ve taken measures to evacuate our citizens from Hubei province. On the order of the Supreme Commander [President Vladimir Putin - TASS], a group of Aerospace Forces' planes will be sent to the province to Hubei's Wuhan to transport our citizens," Golikova said. "We estimate that slightly more than 130 citizens [will be evacuated], but this number keeps changing."

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, temporal closure of Russian-Chinese and Russian-Mongolian borders was effective. She also added that regular flights are being conducted to Sheremetyevo airport only.

Some 19 flights took place on January 31, while only 5 took place on February 1. Besides, 8 charter flights transported 694 Russian nationals. On February 2, 8 charter and 4 regular flights brought in 280 more citizens, Golikova disclosed.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that prevention measures that monitor respiratory disease signs are conducted on all flights. Passengers who display the coronavirus signs are taken to medical facilities for testing, she said.