YEKATERINBURG, January 31. /TASS/. Ural Airlines has suspended 11 regular flights from Russia to China from February 1 due to the coronavirus, the airline’s press service reported on Friday.
"By the order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 140-r dated 01/30/2020, Ural Airlines will suspend the following flights to/from China from 01/01/2020: Yekaterinburg - Ordos - Bangkok; Moscow - Ordos; Yekaterinburg - Harbin; Yekaterinburg - Beijing; Vladivostok - Harbin; Yekaterinburg - Xi'an - Phuket; Kazan - Harbin; Krasnoyarsk - Harbin; Moscow - Harbin; Vladivostok - Harbin; Novosibirsk - Harbin," the press service reported.
The airline also announced that after canceling 11 regular flights it plans to launch charter flights to take tourists from China to Russia and vice versa.
The Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019 about the outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of over 11 million people. The pathogen, the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, was identified on January 7. The WHO recognized the virus outbreak as a national emergency for China but has so far refrained from declaring it a global health emergency. To date, the total number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China has exceeded 9,800, more than 200 people have died.