SFO Flights Impacted After China Halts Departures From Wuhan to Fight Coronavirus

Chinese state media said the city of Wuhan is stopping outbound flights as the country battles the spread of a new coronavirus that has sickened hundreds and killed 17.

This comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday the first detection of the virus in the U.S. in a man who had returned from Wuhan before the CDC initiated public health screenings at five U.S. airports, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

SFO expected one departing and one arriving flight from Wuhan Thursday. Both flights have been canceled, according to SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel Thursday morning.

State officials have shut down all transportation into and out of Wuhan, including the airport and train stations. Buses, subways, ferries and long-distance shuttle buses were also temporarily halted. The state-owned People's Daily newspaper said no one would be allowed to leave the city, while the government press office Xinhua News Agency said people would not be permitted to leave without a specific reason.

Symptoms of the illness include fever, coughing and difficulty breathing.

Some patients in Wuhan were linked to Wuhan South China Seafood City, a market that has been identified as a possible source for the current outbreak, but more cases have been identified since the market's closure on Jan. 1. According to a CDC alert, this indicates that "some person-to-person spread is occurring, though it’s unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people."

What's Going on at SFO?

The CDC's public health screenings, which began Jan. 17 at SFO, include a symptom questionnaire and a temperature check, according to Martin Cetron, the CDC's director for the division of global migration and quarantine, in a press briefing Tuesday. Travelers that are showing symptoms are further evaluated.

Flights regularly arrive at SFO directly from Wuhan on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays every week, according to SFO's Yakel. During the past year, an average of 150 passengers arrived on each nonstop flight from Wuhan to San Francisco, according to the airport.

The canceled inbound flight from Wuhan, China Southern Airlines 659, was scheduled to depart Wednesday at 11:20 p.m. California time and to arrive Thursday morning at 10:55 a.m. China Southern Airlines Flight 660 was also scheduled to depart SFO for Wuhan at 12:55 p.m., but Yakel confirmed both Thursday flights are canceled.

The next direct flights to and from Wuhan are scheduled for Saturday, but SFO does not know if they will be canceled and how long the Wuhan airport will be shutdown.

The CDC said Tuesday that 1,200 passengers from Wuhan have been screened since Jan. 17 at SFO, LAX and John F. Kennedy International airport. No individuals carrying the virus have yet been detected through these screenings.

However, the World Health Organization recommends against traveler screening. “It is generally considered that entry screening offers little benefit, while requiring considerable resources,” said WHO officials in a press release on Jan. 10.

The first U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed in a man who had returned from Wuhan on an indirect flight on Jan. 15 and was not experiencing symptoms at the time. After the patient sought medical care, the CDC conducted lab testing that confirmed the diagnosis.

There is currently no vaccine for the virus, which requires a lab test to confirm. The CDC hopes to make testing faster and more accessible by sharing the test with partners across the country and worldwide in the coming days and weeks.

The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday at a press conference that while the epidemic was clearly a crisis in China, “it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one.” The organization defines a global emergency as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.