Pakistan on Friday halted flights to and from China with immediate effect as death toll from the deadly coronavirus continued to climb in China and World Health Organisation declared it a global health emergency.

“We are suspending flights to China until February 2,” Senior Joint Secretary of aviation Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Reuters, adding the situation would be reviewed after that date.

Previously on Thursday, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended all flights to Beijing until February 2. It is pertinent to mention here that PIA had restarted two flights to Tokyo and Beijing in May 2019 after a gap of three months.

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Meanwhile, Special Assistant to PM Imran on Health Dr Zafar Mirza announced that the government has decided not to repatriate Pakistani citizens stranded in China in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation.  

“We believe that right now, it is in the interest of our loved ones in China [to stay there]. It is in the larger interest of the region, world, country that we don’t evacuate them now,” he told reporters at a press conference. 

“This is what the World Health Organisation is saying, this is China’s policy and this is our policy as well. We stand by China in full solidarity,” he stated, adding, “Right now the government of China has contained this epidemic in Wuhan city. If we act irresponsibly and start evacuating people from there, this epidemic will spread all over the world like wildfire.”

Mirza assured that the Pakistan Embassy in China was in close contact with Pakistani citizens in Wuhan and China was monitoring their activity closely. He said that the government will take responsibility for its citizens and ensure that they are taken care of.

As the death toll from the virus hit 213, the World Health Organisation declared coronavirus to be a global health emergency. The virus has infected close to 10,000 people and all flights to and from China have been suspended to contain the virus and prevent it from spreading.