Second Plane Begins Evacuation Of Canadians From Wuhan - Foreign Minister

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) A second aircraft has begun evacuating Canadians from the coronavirus-ravaged Chinese city of Wuhan, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement on Monday.

"The second Canadian plane has landed in Wuhan from Hong Kong and the evacuation operation is underway," Champagne said via Twitter.

Shortly after the airplane landed, Champagne said the airplane picked up 185 Canadians and has taken off from Wuhan en route to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton.

On Thursday, the first Canadian chartered aircraft - and a US aircraft that left the same day - evacuated 213 Canadian nationals and permanent residents.

In all, more than 300 Canadian nationals and permanent residents requested assisted repatriation to Canada.

So far, a number of countries, including Russia, Australia, and the United States have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan. The city of 11 million in China's Hubei province has been the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The novel strain of coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, was first detected in Wuhan in December and has since spread to nearly 30 countries. In mainland China, more than 40,000 people have been infected about 900 have died.