Special flight to carry Malaysians back from Wuhan leaves KLIA2

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The special aircraft sent by the Malaysian government on a mission to bring back 141 citizens, their spouses and children from Wuhan left for China on Monday (Feb 3) afternoon.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said AirAsia flight AK8264 left for Wuhan at about 3.50 pm with 12 crew and eight members of the mission from KLIA2.

"The aircraft also carried 500,000 pairs of gloves as a contribution to the Chinese government in its operations to fight the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the republic, ” she said in a statement today.

The Central Disaster Managament Committee chairman said all 141 Malaysian citizens, their spouses and children would be required to go through a health screening at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport before being allowed to board the plane back to Malaysia.

Wan Azizah however added that the length of time needed for the health screening and immigration process, as well as the time of the aircraft's departure from Wuhan cannot be determined yet.

Wuhan has been locked down by the Chinese authorities due to the outbreak

Dr Wan Azizah said on arrival in Malaysia, all 167 people onboard (141 Malaysian citizens, their spouses and children, 12 crew, eight members of the mission and six officers from the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing) would go through another health screening at the Air Disaster Unit (ADU) of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

"Those found to have the symptoms will immediately be sent to hospital, while others will be taken by bus to a monitoring centre, where they will be under observation for 14 days, ” she said.

Wan Azizah also said that the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) will inform their families in Malaysia on the flight details, the health screening and the quarantine period. - Bernama