Coronavirus: Wuhan to US military base airlift underway; passengers quarantined on arrival

The US government is airlifting people to military bases in three American states from Wuhan, China, the suspected starting point of the novel coronavirus now spreading globally, and will quarantine them upon arrival.

Two flights are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and another two will land on Thursday, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Centre for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases at the US Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). The flights will arrive at military bases in California, Texas and Nebraska.

The CDC did not specify the nationalities of the travellers and said passenger numbers would not be announced until all four flights had arrived.

Messonnier said the CDC expected “confirmed infections from these and other returning travellers from Hubei province”.

“We do not believe these people serve a threat to the communities where they are being held,” she said. “We are taking measures to minimise contact.”

Steps the US government has taken since coronavirus cases emerged in the country last month “may not catch every single traveller returning with novel coronavirus given the nature of this virus and how it spreads”, Messonnier added, referring to measures that include entry denials and quarantines.