Europe evacuates citizens from China, Russia shuts border

Europe evacuates citizens from China, Russia shuts border

SeattlePI.com

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — European countries stepped up efforts Thursday to contain the virus sweeping through central China, sending a chartered plane there to evacuate hundreds of citizens, scrapping more commercial flights to Chinese destinations and closing Russia's long border with the Asian giant.

Italian authorities kept some 7,000 people on board a cruise ship for nearly a day while they checked one passenger for a possible infection.

An A380 evacuation flight took off Thursday morning from a former Portuguese military airport at Beja, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Lisbon, carrying just its pilots and crew.

Captain Antonios Efthymiou said the flight was going first to Paris, to pick up a team of doctors and extra crew, before heading to Hanoi and then China. He told Portuguese media it would bring back about 350 Europeans. He said the crew would take special medical precautions but did not elaborate.

China has reported 170 deaths and at least 7,800 infections have been confirmed worldwide from the virus that emerged last month in the central city of Wuhan. Sports, transport and cultural events have been cancelled across the country and over 50 million people are under a government lockdown in central China.

In Europe, there have been 10 confirmed cases of the virus so far: five in France, four in Germany and one in Finland.

In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin issued a decree ordering the temporary closure of the country's border with China, which extends for 4,200 kilometers (2,600 miles). In addition, all train traffic between the two countries, except for one train connecting Moscow and Beijing, was stopped Thursday.

Britain said its delayed repatriation flight for 200 U.K. citizens in Wuhan would leave there on Friday, with the...

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