White House weighs ban on flights between China, US amid coronavirus outbreak

The Trump administration is reportedly considering a ban on flights between the US and China in efforts to contain the new coronavirus, which has so far killed at least 132 people and infected more than 6,000.

The White House has discussed the possibility of suspending flights to China, but has not made a decision, administration officials told USA Today, denying some media reports that it had.

CNBC reported that White House officials called executives at major US airlines on Tuesday to inform them that a temporary ban on flights to China was on the table. The news outlet cited people familiar with the conversations.

But a White House official, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told USA Today that talks are ongoing.

“The White House did not call the airlines and hasn’t asked for a suspension of flights between the US and China,” the official told the newspaper.

A flight ban could affect three US carriers — United, Delta and American — with nonstop flights to China.

On Tuesday, United announced it would suspend 24 flights between the US and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai during the first week of February.

The airline operates about a dozen flights daily from the US to mainland China and Hong Kong. The planned reduction would mean three or four fewer flights each day.

Delta currently operates six daily nonstop flights between the US and Beijing and Shanghai, while American operates 10 flights daily to and from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.

All three airlines have issued flight waivers for travelers who don’t want to travel to China, allowing them to postpone or cancel their flights without incurring penalties.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its China travel warning, telling all travelers from the US to avoid the entire country.

The agency had previously advised against nonessential travel to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

“In terms of travel restrictions . . . it’s important to not take anything off the table with a rapidly emerging novel infectious disease,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said at a press conference Tuesday.

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