schema:articleBody
| - EU citizens will be flown out of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak, on board two French planes this week, the European Commission said Tuesday. "Initial numbers indicate that around 250 French citizens will be transported in the first aircraft and over 100 EU citizens from other countries will join the second aircraft," it said in a statement. "This is a first request for assistance and others may follow in the coming days." France had earlier announced it was dispatching the first plane to fetch its citizens in Wuhan without giving figures of how many would be on board. The Commission said in its statement the airlift, at France's request, would now be co-funded by the EU under its civil protection mechanism and broadened with the second plane for EU citizens. It said "only healthy or asymptomatic citizens will be authorised to travel" on the flights. "The EU does not forget its citizens in need, wherever they are in the world," the EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, said. He said the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre was in contact with EU member states and the Chinese embassy in Brussels for the operation, and "further EU support can be mobilised if requested." rmb/dc/pma
|