KYODO NEWS - Feb 2, 2020 - 14:20 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

The Japanese government plans to send another charter flight to evacuate its nationals from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of a new coronavirus outbreak, in the middle of the week or soon after, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The fourth government-chartered aircraft to travel to Wuhan will collect some 140 people still in the city and nearby areas who wish to return to Japan.

The Japanese Embassy in China notified them of the plan by email on Saturday, adding that the government is asking Beijing to allow their spouses with Chinese citizenship to travel on the flight.



(A charter jet carrying a third group of Japanese evacuees from China's Wuhan, at the center of a new coronavirus outbreak, arrives at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Jan. 31, 2020.)

More than 560 Japanese have returned since Wednesday, when the first evacuation flight arrived in Tokyo, as the outbreak of the deadly virus continued to spread across China and other countries.

The total number of people infected with the virus in Japan has risen to 20, with some of the returnees testing positive for the pneumonia-causing virus.

Chinese health authorities said Sunday the number of infections rose 2,590 from the previous day to 14,380 in mainland China, with the death toll rising 45 to 304.

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