Travel warning: Israelis in China should consider leaving

Israel's Foreign Ministry warns against traveling to China, says Israelis currently in the country should consider leaving.

Israel's embassies in China are continuing work as usual and helping the few Israelis who are in the country, despite the outbreak of a deadly coronavirus.

The Israeli diplomats have reported that they do not feel a lack of basic items or food, and are willing to continue their work.

A discussion held Friday between the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Israel's representatives in China led to the decision to issue a travel warning advising Israelis not to travel to China at the moment.

The warning also states that those Israelis currently in China should weigh leaving the country as soon as possible.

Despite the cancellation of direct flights between China and Israel, Israelis who find themselves in the east Asian country can still leave via flights to Europe or certain destinations in Asia, and travel from there to Israel.

On Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called on US citizens to "avoid all nonessential travel to all of" China.

So far, 213 people have died from the new coronavirus, and nearly 10,000 have contracted the virus. Of those, nearly 6,000 are in China's Hubei province, while just 114 are in countries other than China.

On Thursday, the US State Department warned its citizens not to travel to China adding that "those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means."

On Friday morning, two new cases - the country's first - were diagnosed in Britain.