Japan to send 4th evacuation flight to Wuhan later this week

February 2, 2020

Tokyo--The Japanese government is expected to send a fourth chartered flight in the middle of this week or later to evacuate Japanese citizens still in China's Hubei Province, which includes Wuhan at the center of the coronavirus outbreak, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The plan was emailed Saturday to Japanese citizens in Hubei who are willing to return home, the ministry said. In the email, the ministry said it is doing its best to make the fourth flight available as early as possible, according to the ministry.

The ministry said it is in talks with Chinese authorities about evacuating Chinese spouses and children of Japanese citizens.

A total of 565 Japanese citizens returned home from Hubei on three government-chartered from Hubei on three government-chartered flights last week. About 140 more are waiting to be brought back home from the province, according to the government. Jiji Press