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As the first flight of Canadians gets set to leave the quarantine zone of China, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne is encouraging other Canadians to consider leaving the country on commercial flights.

Canada’s initial plan to fly a plane out of Wuhan in Hubei province, a sprawling area that has been completely quarantined because of the coronavirus, has been delayed for 24 hours due to weather.

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The 211 Canadians who are set to fly on that plane out of Wuhan have until 5 p.m. Thursday local time to arrive at the airport. The Chinese government is restricting flights of out of the area to a narrow window at night.

Canadians travelling to the airport will have to go through checkpoints to get to the airport in the city where people have been confined inside for weeks. Champagne said any Canadian headed to the airport should keep going.

“We are asking Canadians now to go to the airport. That is the safest way of ensuring you are on time.”