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Virus outbreak: Scoot cancels Wuhan flights from 23-26 January

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - July 29th, 2018: Flyscoot airplane A320 of Singapore Airlines landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — Budget airline Scoot has cancelled its flights to Wuhan following a complete lockdown of public transportation in the central Chinese city.

Scoot put up a notice on Thursday (23 January) stating that its Singapore to Wuhan return flights from 23 to 26 January will be cancelled.

“Affected customers booked on these flights will receive emails from Scoot with further information on refunds,” said Scoot on its website.

On Thursday, Chinese authorities suspended all outbound public transport from Wuhan in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.

Transportation modes including bus, subway, ferry were suspended from 10am local time, while the city’s airport and train stations were closed to outgoing passengers.

Currently, Scoot’s flights scheduled on 27 January and thereafter will continue to operate as scheduled. Customers who have booked flights before Thursday and wish to change their plans can contact the airline’s call centre or social media platforms to re-route to another destination within China, Hong Kong and Macau, or get a full refund.

The announcement comes a day after Yahoo News Singapore reported that Scoot flights were operating as per normal, despite the spread of the virus beyond China’s borders in the past few weeks. The coronavirus, which has since claimed 17 lives and infected more than 571 people in China as of Thursday, originated from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Separately, Malaysia’s AirAsia has cancelled all flights to and from Wuhan from now to 28 January. Malindo Air has also cancelled all return flights to the city but did not specify the period of suspension.

The outbreak has prompted Singapore Airlines (SIA), which doesn’t fly to Wuhan, to put in place measures to handle medical emergencies including potentially infectious diseases.

In a statement to Yahoo News Singapore on Wednesday, SIA said that unwell passengers would be attended to by medical authorities when the aircraft lands. Passenger or crew members who felt unwell and had travelled to China were “strongly advised to promptly seek medical attention, and report their travel history”, an SIA spokesperson said.

Inflight announcements regarding the virus will also be made on all flights to and from Singapore, it added.

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