A plane carrying 176 Canadian citizens from the centre of the global novel coronavirus outbreak has landed in Trenton, Ont.

Flight HFM322 departed from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated, and landed at Vancouver International Airport after 9 p.m. local time Thursday evening. It stopped for refuelling for about two hours before heading to the Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

Myriam Larouche, a 25-year-old from L’Ascension, Que., who is studying tourism management at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, described the flight as “pretty long,” but noted everyone slept for most of it.

All evacuees will spend 14 days under quarantine on the military base in southern Ontario being monitored to see if they have contracted the virus.

“I think I’m going to sleep for 20 hours straight,” Larouche said, adding that the last few days have been stressful.

She said she is relieved to be back home because it’s been a long process that felt longer being in a different country.

A U.S. government flight from Wuhan with about 50 Canadians on board departed a short time after the Canadian evacuation flight.

The American plane will take Canada-bound passengers as far as Vancouver, where they will transfer to a second flight chartered by the Canadian government to CFB Trenton to join the rest of the evacuees.

The plane was initially set to depart China early Thursday local time but was delayed due to what the Prime Minister said was inclement weather. Larouche said she got an email from the Canadian Embassy about the delay. The email says the delay was “due to circumstances beyond the control of the Government of Canada.”

The flight departed Wuhan around 2:45 a.m local time, and landed in Vancouver at 9:45 p.m. local time to refuel.

Briefly back on the ground, Larouche said she’s “so happy” to be back in Canada. She said she felt good about arriving to Trenton, but “a bit afraid and stressed” about staying in quarantine for 14 days.

Ottawa has said that upon arrival in Canada, the evacuees will be quarantined at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton for 14 days, with no visits from family or friends allowed. They will go through medical checks done by Chinese authorities, and no sick person will be allowed to leave.

Larouche said the prospect of being in isolation in Canada doesn’t bother her — particularly if it puts Canadians’ minds at ease over whether the evacuees could cause the coronavirus to spread in this country.

She arrived in Wuhan last fall with the intention of staying for two years to study tourism management at a local university. Before the outbreak, she spent her down time exploring the city, other areas of China, and practising Chinese.

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But since the coronavirus began to spread and the entire city was quarantined, she’s only left her apartment to buy food from the grocery store. The once-crowded streets outside her window stayed almost entirely empty all day.

In an interview with the Star, Larouche said she wondered whether she would have another opportunity to return to Wuhan at a later time.

“We call it a study city. There’s a lot of universities here, there’s a lot of international students,” she said. All those students are chatting with one another now online, comparing stories about the quarantine and whether they’ll be able to leave Wuhan. “It’s easier when you know there are other people going through what you’re going through,” she said.

With files from the Canadian Press

Alex McKeen is a Vancouver-based reporter covering transportation and labour for the Star.

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