THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 28, 2020 at 14:50 JST
A departure board at Haneda Airport lists a 9:30 a.m. flight bound for Wuhan as canceled on Jan. 28. (Yosuke Fukudome)
A chartered plane to rescue about 650 Japanese nationals from the locked-down city of Wuhan and other municipalities in China's Hubei province will be dispatched late on Jan. 28 and return the following day, according to a top health ministry official.
The second plane is expected to be dispatched after Jan. 29.
The Japanese government initially tried to dispatch a plane on the morning of Jan. 28 to bring the Japanese residing in Hubei province back to Japan the same day.
The plane's departure has been delayed, however, because China has not yet signed off on the flight to the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
To contain the spread of the respiratory infection, Beijing banned air travel in and out of Wuhan and other exit routes from the city starting on Jan. 23.
Man who never visited Wuhan confirmed to have coronavirus
January 28, 2020
Japan to charter special flight to Wuhan to rescue trapped citizens
January 27, 2020
Japan confirms third case of Wuhan virus
January 25, 2020
Japan ups alert for Wuhan; firms with China hubs urge caution
January 23, 2020
Wuhan shuts down outbound flights, trains to fight virus
January 23, 2020
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
