The White House reportedly informed international air carriers Tuesday that it’s considering freezing all flights into the U.S. from China as fears about the coronavirus outbreak soared to new heights.
Efforts have surged around the world to halt the march of the pneumonia-like virus, which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December. CNBC reported that Trump administration officials called executives at major U.S. airlines to inform them a temporary ban on China flights is a possibility, according to people close to the matter.
United Airlines said Tuesday it was suspending two dozen flights between the U.S. and China due to sagging demand, becoming the first American carrier to take such a measure.
Hong Kong officials said they were suspending all train links to mainland China. And U.S. health officials said the number of airports screening for the sometimes deadly virus was leaping from five to 20. American airports started screening for the virus Jan. 17, beginning with New York’s Kennedy Airport.
The death toll from the outbreak, which has spiked dramatically in recent days, now numbers more than 100, and the count of people sickened by the disease has topped 4,500, according to officials.
The U.S. and other countries have drawn up plans to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, a sprawling metropolis home to more people than New York City which was placed under a dystopian quarantine as Chinese authorities seek to curb the spread of the virus.
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