More than 200 Taiwanese citizens in Wuhan returned to Taiwan on Monday night on a charter flight. It was the first such flight evacuating Taiwanese citizens since the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the central Chinese city.
The flight was arranged by the Wuhan branch of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. The China Eastern Airlines charter jet arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at around 11:40 pm.
A second charter flight will fly on Wednesday and there will be a third flight if necessary. The first charter flights will be taking Taiwanese from Wuhan but there will be charter flights from other cities later if necessary.
An official with Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control, Chuang Jen-hsiang says that passengers are being screened at the airport. Those exhibiting symptoms consistent with coronavirus will be sent directly to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Those showing no symptoms will be quarantined for 14 days. Chuang says each quarantined person will have their own well-ventilated room.
Two Taiwanese citizens in China that have been diagnosed with coronavirus will not be on the charter flight. One has been admitted to a hospital in Wuhan. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council says the other Taiwanese patient was working in Wuhan before flying to Shenzhen in mid-January.