Swiss cancels all flights to China

Today, Swiss announced it was temporarily suspending all flights to and from mainland China.

Flights to Bejing Capital Airport (PEK) and Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) are affected, it said.

The announcement is a response to the global spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), a contagious virus that can lead to life threatening pneumonia. The virus first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 and has spread to 16 countries and killed around 130 people in China, according to the BBC. A realtime map showing the number of confirmed cases and deaths can be viewed here.

Wuhan, in the land locked province of Hubei, is a key location for China’s semiconductor industry.

• A quick up-to-date guide on the Coronavirus (Le News)

Earlier this week, two people suspected of having the virus were quarantined at Triemli hospital in Zurich, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. Someone at CRIVE, a virus testing centre at Geneva hospital, reported that 10 to 100 viral samples from people in Switzerland had been received for testing over the last three weeks, according to the same article.

Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines will suspend flights to and from mainland China until 9 February 2020, according to Lufthansa. Acceptance of bookings for flights to mainland China will be suspended until end of February.

However, flights to and from Hong Kong will continue as planned.

Air China, which has direct flights between Geneva and Beijing, continues to fly between Switzerland and mainland China. The flight numbers are CA 861 (Beijing to Geneva) and CA 862 (Geneva to Beijing). These flights run four times a week.

More on this:
20 Minutes article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now

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