Health officials appointed at seven Pakistan airports for coronavirus awareness  

KARACHI: Federal health authorities on Wednesday appointed focal persons at seven airports of the country aimed at managing awareness and cure programs on deadly coronavirus for the travellers, ARY NEWS reported.   

A notification for the appointment of the focal persons has been issued from the central health establishment directorate.

It said that the health officials will be appointed at the seven airports of the country as focal persons for creating awareness regarding the virus, that has claimed several lives in China.

It said that Dr Sara Saeed is appointed as focal person for Islamabad airport, Dr Tariq Nawaz for Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Dr Amina Saqib is appointed to deal with the issue at Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot airports while Dr Kashmala Orakzai is appointed to manage affairs at Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar.

Earlier in the day, China Airlines announced that it is partially suspending its flights between Beijing and Karachi in the light of Wuhan virus, ARY News reported, citing sources.

All flights between Karachi, Beijing and Beijing to Karachi will remain suspended till February 2 due to deadly coronavirus that has killed 132 people so far, according to airport sources.

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British Airways on Wednesday also suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China, one of the biggest names in aviation to do so, as worries grow about the impact of a spreading coronavirus on global travel.

BA.com, the airline’s website, shows no direct flights to mainland China are available to book in January and February, but the airline said in an email that the cancellations were in effect until Jan. 31 while it assesses the situation.

Direct flights to the Chinese-ruled autonomous region of Hong Kong were unaffected.