Pakistan on Friday halted flights to and from China with immediate effect, a civil aviation official said, as the death toll from a coronavirus outbreak spreading in China mounted and the World Health Organisation called it a global health emergency.

“We are suspending flights to China until February 2,” Senior Joint Secretary of aviation Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Reuters by phone, adding the situation would be reviewed after that date. He declined to comment on the reason for the closure.

Will Pakistan be evacuating Pakistani’s from Wuhan?

Pakistan now not only has a thousand students studying in China but about 300 of them are in Wuhan. They have pleaded with the government to get them out of Wuhan but there’s been no response. Additionally, some top athletes from Pakistan are also stuck in China due to flight operations problem. Seeing as how Pakistan has halted flights from China, there isn’t much hope for those stuck in Wuhan.

also read: China marks deadliest day as coronavirus death toll jumps up to 213