Pakistan suspends direct flights to and from China over virus fears

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Thursday suspended direct flights to and from China over the coronavirus epidemic, Dunya News reported.

According to sources, direct flights to and from China will remain suspended till February 2. Other major airlines that have suspended or pared back services to China include British Airways, German flag carrier Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM and United.

According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has already killed 170 people.

Chinese authorities have taken extraordinary steps to arrest the virus s spread, including effectively locking down more than 50 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.

The contagion has spread to nearly every corner of China, with remote Tibet reporting its first case on Thursday.

It has triggered fears in part due to its striking similarity to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03, which also began in China and eventually killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

---with input from AFP