You're reading: RFE/RL: Ukraine sending plane to evacuate citizens from China as virus deaths exceed 1,800

RFE/RL: Ukraine sending plane to evacuate citizens from China as virus deaths exceed 1,800

Published Feb. 18, 2020. Updated Feb. 18 at 9:31 am

This photo taken on Feb. 5, 2020 shows a patient (R) covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province.

Photo by AFP

After a week of delay, Ukraine said on February 18 that it plans to send a plane to China and evacuate 49 of its citizens and 25 foreign nationals.

The passengers will be airlifted from Wuhan city in Hubei Province, the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak where the pathogen is believed to have originated in December.